A new transitional housing community for Douglas County women in recovery with their children was a decadelong dream, according to Lori Alvarado, DCCCA CEO.
“There are very few places where women who are recovering from substances can actually take their children and live safely, and that has been a challenge in our community,” Alvarado said.
DCCCA staff and partners gathered alongside Lawrence and Douglas County community members Thursday morning for a ribbon cutting to celebrate the five new duplexes, which can serve between 15 and 20 people at a time.
Women who are in treatment for addiction at First Step at Lake View, DCCCA’s residential treatment program, can qualify to live in one of the duplexes, with options to bring their children.
The units, at 3011 W. 31st St. on the campus of First Step, are built to be flexible, so residents may also live with another woman in recovery.
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Alvarado told the gathered crowd that Hope Rising is the only transitional housing in Kansas for women in recovery with their children that is connected to a treatment facility.
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“When you are a mom with kids, there are very few places that you can live affordably,” Alvarado said before the ceremony. “Also, if you’re in recovery, very few places you can live where you’re not tempted or living among substance use in your early recovery.”
She said the name “Hope Rising” comes from women currently in DCCCA’s treatment facility.
“They were asked, ‘What is the name of a community that would further inspire your recovery journey?’ And so today, we celebrate Hope Rising here,” Alvarado said.
Transitional housing is intended to help people who have faced challenges such as addiction recovery by providing a supportive, stable living environment as they prepare to find long-term housing in a community.
The women at Hope Rising will have anywhere between six months and about a year — with some wiggle time, as needed — in transitional housing. Residents will have a graduated rent process where they start small, and by the time they leave Hope Rising, Alvarado said they’ll be ready to pay market rents.
Each woman will have an individualized support plan, with access to childcare and DCCCA’s full menu of wraparound services. If the nonprofit doesn’t offer something a woman needs, case managers will connect them with community partners like Bert Nash or Peaslee Tech.
“They’ll be working on their education and employment and connection to community resources, and that will all be a pathway to permanent housing, independence, and more hope,” Alvarado said.
The move-in date for the community’s first residents is July 1.
“In just a couple of weeks, there will be women and children living in these units,” Alvarado said.
Kim Freese, the chief behavioral health officer with DCCCA, told the crowd that she is a person in long-term recovery. She first came to DCCCA for recovery services in 1991.
“As I’m in the houses, I say, gosh … if that was available in where I got to live when I got into recovery, I’m not sure I’d ever leave,” she joked. “And I kind of haven’t. I’ve come back to DCCCA. The mission just draws you back.”
According to Alvarado, Hope Rising is a $4.2 million project with significant support from public and private donors. They used American Rescue Plan Act money from the City of Lawrence and behavioral health tax money from Douglas County, plus funding from the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services.
She said they’re still about $170,000 short for the project. The buildings are paid for, but that remaining funding would go to programming and services to moms and kids. Learn more about the project and contribute at this link.
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