Cool Collaborations: YWCA and Cleveland Housing Network

TEAMING UP TO SUPPORT INDEPENDENCE

The YWCA of Greater Cleveland’s program, Nurturing Independence & Aspirations (NIA), is designed to help girls, 18 years and older, who are aging out of foster care to become self-sufficient. It has five key elements: GED, Job Readiness, Life Skills, Independent Living Skills, and Nurturing Parenting. Yet there is one thing missing … a permanent place for these young ladies to call home. Once a girl in foster care turns 18 she is released out of the system and suddenly finds herself on her own with nowhere to live.

According to Irene Collins, Chief Financial & Operations Officer of the YWCA, it was during a brainstorming session in 2007 when a seed of an idea was planted and began to firmly take root: to further empower these young women by providing a residence for them. The idea blossomed into reality when the YWCA partnered with the Cleveland Housing Network (CHN) in 2008, and together they decided to redevelop some unused office space and build 22 efficiency apartments at the YWCA’s headquarters on Prospect Avenue.

CHN’s Director of Real Estate Development, Kevin Brown, who oversees the housing project and has been hands-on since the beginning, worked with them to secure funding from major supporters like the City of Cleveland, Cuyahoga County and the Ohio Housing Finance Agency, among others. CHN and the YWCA then teamed up with architects to design a floor plan and hired contractors to begin building the efficiencies. Some units have been designed with an extra room to accommodate those who have a young child or are expecting. An added benefit is that the NIA program is also located at the YWCA’s headquarters.

Independence Place, as it has become known, will be completed by the end of 2010, if the project continues to stay on track. Then, 22 self-empowered, independent young women will have a place to call home.

For further information about either Cleveland Housing Network or the NIA program at the YWCA visit www.chnnet.com or www.ywca.org.