Shelter looks to expand

Children’s center on LR facility’s wish list for 2014

Ask 8-year-old Zadie Farrell what she enjoys about the youth program at the Our House shelter and she’ll rattle off a list. Her favorites include quiet time to do her math homework and baking chocolate chip cookies.

She’s also quick to say what isn’t so great.

“What’s not really cool? Less space” in the education building, she said.

By 2014, however, Our House staff members believe that lack of space will no longer be a problem.

The staff at the shelter at 302 E. Roosevelt Road in Little Rock hopes by April to raise the last $1.2 million needed to build an 18,500-square-foot Our House Children’s Center.The center, which will take 10 months to a year to build, is a $3.8 million project.

“It’s going to be a literal investment in these kids’ lives,” said Ben Goodwin, the shelter’s assistant director. “When they walk in, it will empower them [to think] ‘people arereally investing in me, so I, in turn, I’m going to make the most of that.’”

Our House, which provides housing and workforce training to homeless individuals who are serious about getting off the streets and putting their lives back on track, opened its family housing program in 1991, converting an ambulance garage from the old Veterans Administration Hospital into an education building. The building has been renovated twice, including $100,000 worth of improvements made last year, but it still does not feel like an educational environment, Goodwin said.

“There’s a cabinet to separate the toddlers from the preschool kids,” Goodwin said. “You can still see the structural support beams and pipes and overhead garage doors.”

Goodwin said the approximately 7,000 square feet of space has only three rooms for children and doesn’t align with the shelter’s name “Our House.”

“It was called that becausethe original director wanted the kids to say, ‘I’m going to Our House,’ not ‘I’m going to a homeless shelter.’ It’s a home for kids.”

However, in a little more than 20 years, their home has become cramped.

During the school year, about 24 children are enrolled in the infant to 5-year-old program called Little Learners; while Our Club, for children 6-17, has about 25 children. Adult-education classes, which usually serve about 30 people, are also held in the building.

Including staff members, there are around 93 people in the building on any given day, Goodwin said. In the summer, the number increases to about 150, with more children usingthe education building.

Since the building’s daily capacity is 50 people, many youth programs can’t be held in the building, dispersing the children throughout other buildings on the shelter grounds, Goodwin said. The new center will be able to hold 142 people.

Northwest Arkansas, Pages 10 on 11/24/2012

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