The women’s recovery center underway at Bridge Street Mission in Wausau is adding a missing piece to the local puzzle, said Craig Vincent, the group’s executive director.
Over the last four years, Bridge Street Mission, a faith-based nonprofit supporting people struggling with homelessness, addiction and food insecurity, says between 25% and 36% of people who come to its outreach center while in crisis have been women. Vincent said a lot of those women have managed chronic homelessness. Some have lost custody of their children.
There are places in the area that offer similar services for men or families. Even Bridge Street’s shelter system having everyone in one big room isn’t always a good enough environment for women who have experienced trauma, he said.
“There wasn’t really anything for them,” he said. “There really wasn’t anybody providing this kind of residential programming for women who are solo, who are by themselves. And they’re some of the most vulnerable.”
Vincent said he expects the women’s recovery center to open in June. To help with the project, Bridge Street recently secured a $50,000 grant from the Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority Foundation, or WHEDA, which gave out $2 million for emergency shelters, transitional residences and low-income housing.
“These grants provide essential resources to those who need them and help create safer spaces for Wisconsinites who are unhoused, at risk, and striving to overcome challenges,” Democratic Gov. Tony Evers said in a news release. “My administration is committed to ensuring that everyone has a safe, warm place to stay and a roof over their heads at night.”
Solutions Recovery in Oshkosh has several programs that help those who struggle with addiction. Executive Director Megan Edwards said all Solutions Recovery staff members have lived experience with addiction and recovery, and the group offers sober living housing and 24/7 peer-support groups.
Edwards has been the executive director of Solutions Recovery for about a year and a half, and she said this is the first successful capital grant she has received in that time.
“$50,000 is such a huge deal to our organization,” she said. “Capital funding is hard to come by at times.”
The grant funding is for rehabilitating sober living homes. Some of the money is going toward a bathroom expansion, which Edwards said would allow Solutions Recovery to make more use of other spaces in a “huge, huge historic building.”
“We need to have an accessible bathroom, basically, to be able to open up some of these other spaces that currently are unused office spaces,” she said. “There’s a lot more space that we could use. We just have to convert them, essentially.”
The money will also go toward maintenance and upkeep of residential properties to make sure those spaces are taken care of and offer dignity and safety to program participants, Edwards said. Some work includes roofing and painting projects, which are not necessarily glamorous and easy efforts to raise money for, but, she said, they are important nonetheless.
She said Solutions Recovery serves roughly 250 participants a year in the sober living residences. She said the maintenance work can be demanding, so she was excited to hear about the grant.
“It’s kind of the brick and mortar,” Edwards said. “Those things cost a lot of money. So, being able to have $50,000 to work with to be able to upkeep our properties is just really a godsend, honestly.”
Edwards said all quotes for projects came from construction businesses run by people in recovery.
“We are collaborating with people in our recovery community to also spearhead the work,” she said.
In Milwaukee, the United Community Center will use its $50,000 on a new men’s residential facility. In a statement, the center’s director of human services, Mara Lovo, said the money will help expand its capacity to assist up to 90 more men each year with emergency housing.
“With the project underway, we look forward to welcoming clients this summer,” Lovo said.
Vincent from Bridge Street has been in this line of work for over four decades. He said the group’s mission is to go beyond meeting basic needs and to help people succeed in society on their own.
Vincent explained that Wausau’s chamber of commerce is housed in an old historic train depot. To him, that represents those who are participating in society and the economy. The center for women is a big part of Bridge Street’s On Track campaign, which is a plan to make facility renovations and upgrades across multiple programs.
“So, we’re a temporary stop to get people back on track so they can fully participate in our world as productive citizens,” Vincent said.
By Jonah Beleckis for the Wisconsin Independent.
Broadcast version by Judith Ruiz-Branch for Wisconsin News Connection reporting for the Wisconsin Independent-Public News Service Collaboration
