River Bend Neighborhood

A block party was held in the 1300 block of 8th Street last Saturday, August 25. The cookout, exhibits, children’s games and street concert celebrated the grand opening of the St. Paul AME Transformation Center, which comprises three apartment buildings on the corners of 8th and 9th Streets on Forest.

In addition to 19 apartment units for families, the center offers programs to help homeless families get their lives back on track. Services offered at the center include a food pantry, a women’s support group, career counseling and Alcoholics Anonymous.

The three apartment buildings had previously been used by Good Samaritan Urban Ministries as housing for the homeless. But financial difficulties forced those facilities to close last year. St. Paul AME Church bought the buildings last winter and workers have been renovating the buildings since.

The center opened in March, but work still needs to be done on many of the apartment units. The block party marked the kickoff of a fundraising campaign to raise $250,000 to fully renovate the apartment buildings.

The Transformation Center is a joint project spearheaded by St. Paul AME Church, but also backed by Grace Lutheran Church andHomeTogether, a collaborative effort of the 29 Evangelical Lutheran Church in America congregations in greater Des Moines.

The Transformation Center is being promoted as a more practical, long-term-temporary housing alternative for homeless families. The homeless, particularly families, have few options when it comes to looking for long-term housing. There are a number of shelters (including some in the River Bend Neighborhood) that house the homeless (particularly single men) for a day, or a week. But few shelters offer longer-term housing, or housing for families.

HomeTogether aims to provide a housing alternative for families not served by other shelters.

Long-term shelter is necessary because mentoring and support over a longer period of time will help keep bring families back into society.

The shelter is a cause for concern for some in the neighborhood, with the River Bend and adjacent neighborhoods already dealing with the side-effects of a high number of social service agencies, shelters, halfway houses, and other agencies.

Categorized as: Neighborhood News