Plans for a new facility to combat poverty and homelessness are underway in Rapid City. The Transformation Center would consolidate services and shelters into a central location. Organizers held a forum to discuss plans and address concerns from the community.
Charity Doyle is the project manager for Rapid City Collective Impact. She lead the presentation on the Transformation Center. Doyle says the facility makes services that aid in combating poverty more accessible by bringing them closer to people in need.
“Right now we have [a] homeless shelter in the community, we have services in the community. The difference is bringing those things together and creating a culture and meeting the people where they’re at.”
Early plans for the Transformation Center include three buildings with nearly 100 rooms. She says right now, organizers are trying to determine what services the facility can provide.
“Everybody’s different so we’ll have to look at that and we’re going to be drawing immensely on the expertise of the people who are already working with them every single day, figuring out what those best, right next steps are and getting them to where they’re telling us they want to be.”
Doyle says she’s planning on people from many different situations using the center. She say organizers are developing qualifications and rules for potential participants.
“There is a plan for everybody. There’s a way to allow them to still adhere to those rules and help them get the benefits they may be entitled to. Sometimes they just don’t know. So it’s taking those cases as they come, figuring out what resources are available and getting them on the best plan possible to be as self sufficient as they can be.”
Doyle says the Transformation Center still needs to raise seven million dollars to cover the initial costs.