Warren YWCA Returns to Roots with Apartments
WARREN, Ohio – A $2.1 million project to replace the long-unused pool and locker room area at the YWCA Warren with housing units for women and their families represents a return to the organization’s roots, it executive director says.
The YWCA’s executive director, Shari Harrell, joined the nearly century-old institution’s lending partners and community leaders Wednesday to take hammers to the wall of the pool, which hasn’t been used since 2006, to kick off construction of 12 apartments. The apartments will be available to women and their families who are homeless or are in danger of becoming homeless.
“We’re looking at those families who have some other kind of obstacle in their life,” Harrell explained. “It could be a physical disability, it could be past addiction problems, it could be a domestic violence situation, so that we can give them an opportunity to have a safe and stable home to get back on their feet.”
She recalled that early in its history, the YWCA provided a place for women to live who came to the city to work.
The decision to replace the pool area with the apartments was “not made lightly” or without regret, Harrell acknowledged. “Change is always a challenge and this transition is no exception,” she said. Many people in the community responded strongly to the decision to get rid of the pool, where many children in the community had learned to swim over the years.
“The needs of the community are very different today,” and the YWCA needs to respond to those needs to remain viable, she remarked. It is “much more important for the YWCA to be here than to have a pool.”
The YWCA was actually in danger of losing the building in 2006, Mayor Doug Franklin noted. “I can vividly recall the gray cloud hanging not only over this building but the entire community,” he said.
The “conventional wisdom” was that organizations like the YWCA were becoming obsolete, he continued. “But thank God for Shari Harrell,” under whose leadership the YWCA “saw an opportunity in the midst of that cloud,” he said. “This is taking a building that could have been empty and making it viable again.”
Representing Huntington National Bank, one of the project’s funders, at the press event was Jill Murphy, vice president of government banking and a member of the YWCA’s board. The YWCA is “a major piece of the Warren area” and it was important for Huntington to be part of the project, Murphy said.
“We know that this supportive housing will help strengthen those individuals in the community for years to come,” said Tom Muth, assistant vice president for Federal Home Loan Bank of Cincinnati. The bank, which also provided funds for the project, is one of 12 federally funded banks that provide low-cost loans to banks for mortgage and economic development lending.
Other funders include Warren-Trumbull HOME Consortium, the Corporation for Supportive Housing, the Rotary Club of Warren and the Ohio Housing Finance Authority.
Beatitude House and Coleman Professional Services will partner with the YWCA to operate the housing and provide supportive services to the residents.
Those supportive services will include helping residents establish credit, assisting with child care and transportation, making sure they access any mental health services, and working with children regarding school placement and enrichment activities, said Sister Patricia McNicholas, Beatitude House executive director.
“We provide supportive services to help them be successful in life,” Harrell said. As opposed to transitional housing, which has a shorter term, “These [apartments] are for families for whom it’s going to take a longer than 12- to 18 months to get stabilized,” she noted.
Residents will sign their own leases and be responsible for a portion of their rent, depending on their income, Harrell said.
Copyright 2013 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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