SPRINGDALE -- A donated office building in north Springdale is available to house 50 or more state parolees, and the new owners are looking for a local group to spearhead the project.
Quapaw House Inc. is a nonprofit group that runs alcohol and drug rehabilitation programs in Hot Springs and Little Rock. It is also active in transition programs for state prisoners returning to regular life in those cities.
The group recently was given an office building at 703 N. Thompson St. in Springdale, said board member Jim Bell of Little Rock. The building's former owner, Charlotte Steele, confirmed the donation last week.
The office building, known as the Steele Centre, has 13,000 square feet of floor space, Bell said.
"It's in excellent shape," Bell said. "We could open it up as an office building tomorrow."
The location is ideally suited for such a center because it's across the street from Neal's Cafe and near other businesses, he said.
"It's not in a residential neighborhood, and you can walk or ride a bicycle to any one of a number of jobs," he said.
State Rep. Micah Neal, R-Springdale, is a member of the family that owns Neal's Cafe and agreed the site makes sense.
"You can walk a mile in any direction from there and find a lot of places to work, and there's an Ozark Regional Transit stop next to the cafe," he said.
An Alcoholics Anonymous chapter also meets nearby, Neal said.
Quapaw House is willing to help a local group open a state-licensed transitional living center at the Springdale building, but the site is too far from Quapaw House's other operations for the nonprofit to manage such a center itself, Bell said. His group is looking for a local organization to run it, make renovations and obtain the required state license.
Almost half the people released from Arkansas prisons go back within three years with new charges, state figures show.
"Well over 80 percent of the people who go to prison have an alcohol or addiction problem, but when they get out, they go right back to the same environment they came from," Bell said.
A safe, secure and drug-free home with a schedule, supervision, a curfew and drug testing greatly improves their odds of a successful restart, he said.
Apartment owners and managers run criminal background checks and are often unwilling to rent to people with any criminal record, according to members of the Northwest Arkansas Re-entry Coalition. Joe Bruton, spokesman for the coalition, confirmed Friday that Bell discussed the possibility of opening a center at the Thompson Street location at a meeting of the coalition Aug. 3.
The site could hold 75 parolees, and it would be an all-male facility, Bell said. Benton, Washington and Madison counties are home to more than 2,000 parolees, according to the latest figures from the state Parole Board. There is no state license transitional living facility in Northwest Arkansas, according to Bruton and the state Department of Community Correction.
Bell and Quapaw House became involved because they know members of the Northwest Arkansas Re-entry Coalition and wanted to help get such a facility started, he said.
Steele is the widow of Philip Wayne Steele, an author and historian whose family founded the Steele Canning Co. A former plant location adjoins the donated property. Steele confirmed the donation in a telephone interview, but referred all further questions to Quapaw House.
Springdale Alderman Mike Lawson said he was not convinced the site in the ward he represents is a good location for such a facility.
"My initial gut feeling is that there is so much going on in that area right now that I'm not sure that's the place for it," Lawson said. "I'd really have to know a lot more about about it."
Alderman Kathy Jaycox said any proposal needs to be the subject of a public forum for residents.
Springdale Mayor Doug Sprouse said representatives from Quapaw House met with him months ago to let the mayor know they were trying to help start a center.
"From what I know about it, it would be an important service, and I wouldn't have any objections to it as long as any security concerns were addressed," he said.
Turning the building into a center will require extensive remodeling, including an installation of showers, a sprinkler system and probably a kitchen area larger than the small kitchen facilities there, Bell said.
Organizers also would have to obtain a license from the Arkansas Department of Community Correction. Dina Tyler, spokesman for the state Department of Community Correction, said licensing would take a few weeks at most, but that the real challenge is acquiring a property and meeting the state standards to get such a license.
Bell estimated the cost of remodeling to be $75,000-$150,000.
State Desk on 08/30/2016