July 18, 2023 – A new partnership between the City of Decatur, Land of Lincoln Credit Union, Richland Community College and the Empowerment Opportunity Center announced Tuesday will advance the city’s neighborhood revitalization efforts and provide transitional housing to local families.
“The city saw a larger vision to use this house as an example of how neighborhood revitalization cannot be done alone,” said Deputy City Manager John Kindseth. “It’s a collaboration of city organizations already here doing good work. It’s about investing in people and not just investing in the house.”
A house on North Union Street in Decatur will become the new home for the Empowerment Opportunity Center’s transitional housing program, which provides a place to live for families working to become economically independent. EOC leases the program’s current home, and with LLCU currently foreclosing on the Union Street property, the credit union’s President and CEO saw an opportunity to keep families together and benefit the EOC by donating the property.
“I took the idea back to the LLCU board and they unanimously approved the property donation,” said LLCU President and CEO Robert Ares. “I think that we can all agree that keeping family units together in this environment, in this society is truly important.”
The transitional housing program gives families who are facing homelessness a place to live for up to two years. Combined with other EOC services, families can then maintain permanent housing. Tara Murray, the Executive Opportunity Center’s Executive Director, said she hopes to expand the program to homes in other neighborhoods throughout the city.
“There is a lot of potential to do this with other vacant properties in the city and to grow the number of families that we can assist,” Murray said. “To take something that might otherwise sit and continue to fall into disrepair or not be upkept and turn it around—that’s the kind of symbol of hope for our community and for the families we serve.”
The small-family home will be renovated by Decatur Trades and Labor Council crews along with a cohort of students from Richland Community College’s EnRich program. After foundational lessons in the classroom, twelve students will begin work on the property with other groups likely to follow. John Oliver, Dean of Workforce Development at RCC, said the partnership will provide students with unique hands-on demolition and construction experience.
“When the city reached out to us about this opportunity and we first met and learned about what this could mean for our students it was a no-brainer for us to jump onboard and be a part of this,” Oliver said. “This will actually bring them into the real world, working under the Decatur Trades.”
In addition to benefiting families in the transitional program and RCC students, Kindseth said restoring the house will benefit ongoing and future neighborhood revitalization efforts. Although the city is funding the project, he added that it wouldn’t be possible without the other organizations’ support.
“A lot of other organizations are coming together to make this project possible, and the city only plays one role in that,” Kindseth said. “It’s all of the other organizations that will continue to collaborate on this house and hopefully many more of these houses to come in the future as well.”
For more information about the transitional housing program, click HERE.
(Contributor: Tray Brown)
