Please join us in celebrating the groundbreaking for the First Street Church Project (112 W. Market St.) on Thursday, March 26, at 10:00am.
There are two critical components of any community’s effort to end (or at least severely curb) homelessness: increase the supply of affordable housing for the working poor, including transitional housing for families in crisis and permanent supportive housing for individuals with mental or physical disabilities; and improve access to the critical services that people need to escape homelessness (employment, housing, mental health/substance abuse treatment, health care, veterans’ benefits, legal assistance, etc., along with basic amenities like showers, laundry, telephones, mailboxes).
The First Street Church Project will be an excellent model for pursuing the latter goal, while the new Single Room Occupancy facility that Virginia Supportive Housing will soon build in Charlottesville will be an excellent model for pursuing the former goal. We at PACEM have been integrally involved in both projects and we’re excited to see positive movement forward on both fronts. PACEM has a particular stake in the success of the First Street Church Project because when FSCP opens its doors (hopefully by the end of 2009), it will serve as our intake site and will also house PACEM’s administrative offices.
Many thanks to Tom Shadyac for his vision, his passion and his generosity of spirit and coin. Without him, this day would never have come.
UPDATE: Chiara Canzi of C-Ville Weekly has the story. Or, see Rachana Dixit’s write-up here, from the Daily Progress, or Jenn McDaniel’s piece on NBC-29 here.