Beacon broke ground for its planned center on Bloomington’s west side Tuesday.
Beacon is the largest service and shelter provider for people experiencing homelessness in its region, which covers Monroe, Morgan, Owen, Greene, Martin, and Lawrence counties.
The center will have housing, supportive services, a day center, and employment support in one building. Its director, Forrest Gilmore, said the idea for the Beacon Center was modeled from a shelter in St. Paul.
“I just love this concept of seeing human progress built into the facility itself,” Gilmore said.
Beacon’s new home was previously owned by Weddle Brothers Construction. Demolition of abandoned buildings on the property will start this fall and be done before winter, Gilmore said.
Read more: Beacon Inc over halfway to fundraising goal for new center
Demolition this fall makes space for a two-level building. The first floor will hold an overnight shelter, offices, spaces for supportive services, and a kitchen.
The second floor will hold 20 apartments for people who have been homeless because of a disability and five work-exchange apartments.
“The day center will be that first-encounter place” for when people are in an emergency, Gilmore said. The overnight shelter “helps people move into those next steps” and from there move people into permanent housing.
Beacon has raised $4.72 million of its $5 million goal in community fundraising. It has about $4 million left to raise with grants and foundations. Gilmore said Beacon expects two grants by the end of the year.
“That's another $4.5 million to $5 million to come in,” he said. “And we feel confident that it will.”
The city of Bloomington contributed $600,000 for the new facility and the Monroe County Commissioners have contributed $500,000.
Beacon was founded in 2000 as the Shalom Center and based out of the First United Methodist Church basement as a day facility. It opened a day center on South Walnut in 2010. It rebranded to Beacon five years ago to reflect the organization’s expanded capacity.
Bloomington Mayor Kerry Thomson spoke at the groundbreaking Tuesday. She said the Beacon Center shows Bloomington’s dedication to compassion.
“This moment reminds us that strong foundations can rise from small starts, foundations that, over time hold the weight, and the trust, and the promise of something better,” Thomson said.
Thomson said the city relies on the infrastructure and expertise of organizations like Beacon to address chronic homelessness.
“The city can't replicate what our partners do best,” she said.
When complete, the Beacon Center will be a piece to resolving chronic homelessness, Thomson said. But it takes religious organizations, nonprofits, businesses, and service providers “pulling in the same direction.”
It's the city’s job to help coordinate these pieces, Thomson said.
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The city sued Continental Management, Cinnaire Solutions, and Beacon Inc this summer over conditions at the Crawford Apartments, a complex dedicated to housing people who have experienced chronic homelessness. The apartments are owned and managed by Cinnaire and Continental Management. Beacon is the service provider and helps place people in units.
“We set high expectations and stand beside people by sharing the responsibility of care,” Thomson said.
Gilmore said conditions at the Crawford Apartments have improved and “it's up to everyone, all the partners, to maintain it.”
Beacon does not own the Crawford Apartments, which has 61 units, Gilmore said. It will have more influence over how apartments at the new center are run and function because it owns them.
