Volusia County, FL - During Thursday's Volusia County Council meeting, funding amendments for 2 homeless shelters in the County were approved.
The DeLand Neighborhood Center was approved for funding up to $125,000 to go towards operation costs, matching donations and contributions given to the City of DeLand.
Hope Place in Daytona Beach was ultimately granted funding for $327,000 towards building improvements and first-year operation costs for up to $400,000, matching donations and contributions given to Halifax Urban Ministries (HUM). The additional capital grant funding will result in a total of $3.8 million to complete the facility.
"We are depositing into a community for the health, safety and welfare of a population that's underserved, very drastically underserved, and making a commitment to that," says Councilwoman Deborah Denys.
Recently, there has been some leadership changes at HUM, the non-profit running Hope Place. The Director, Mark Geallis, is resigning after his 2 years of leadership and an interim director is being put into place. HUM assured the Council that they are still confident in their ability as an organization and that they are advertising the slot. HUM says that they have received applications from all over the country and that the next director will be "a top caliber person."
"From the beginning, the strength of this particular project of Hope Place is the people, and I believe that it will continue to be so. So, while you are in a paradigm shift, literally, it's not necessarily a bad thing," says Denys.
During the meeting, the Council was also given an update on the progress of Hope Place. Sandy Bishop, from Hope Place's Building Committee, told the Council that the building has been stripped "to the bare bones" and that it "looks like a pavilion" without drywall and some of the flooring. Currently, plumbing and waterlines are being installed so the bathrooms are bare as well.
As agreed upon during the last Council meeting on June 16, HUM will re-convey some land back to the County to be used for a park and recreation space as well as a regional public library. While there are plans for two basketball courts, other park amenities have not been decided upon.
(Maps courtesy of Volusia County)
"I think that this is bigger than Hope Place," says Denys. "The footprint, geographic footprint, here is going to impact more than just families and children." The library will be a part of and will work within the regional library system but it may not have the same operation hours. For example, the Council heard that the library may not be open 7 days a week and may have different, shorter hours. Both the library and the park will not be paid for with general fund money. "This is one of those win-wins where sometimes when you get something established and that becomes a catalyst to allow you to do other programs that are separate money that would be appropriate to use for those communities outside of Hope Place," says James T. Dinneen, Volusia County Manager. "Here, we've killed two birds with one stone." "The commitment and dedication to see this through helped to justify the investment that we're making in our entire community, so thank you all for that," says County Chair, Ed Kelley. Photo courtesy of Congarashu and Shutterstock.com. Copyright Southern Stone Communications 2017.
