Press release from Asheville Buncombe Community Christian Ministry:
Announcing the Grand Opening of ABCCM’s Transformation Village Friday March 12th, 2021.
Transformation Village is a multi-phase project providing on-site support for homeless women and children. Phase I includes a 43,000 square foot SECU Center of Hope facility with a 100 bed residence, case management with our signature Steps to Success program with healthcare, nutrition, life-skills, continuing education by AB-Tech, and living wage jobs that leads to permanent homes.
“We’re very excited about this phase one opening,” said Carolyn Cronin, director of Transformation Village. “We’ll be moving in 30 individuals on Friday. We can house up to a hundred and more women and children will be arriving in the next month and a half. This is just the beginning. When phases two and three are completed, Transformation Village will house more than 300 people.”
Completion of Phase 1 and the Community Center includes 100 beds for transitional housing, a commercial kitchen and dining facility that can serve 300, a life skills and job training center offering 17 career-track programs in partnership with AB Tech Community College, a children’s enrichment center with age appropriate education/play areas, and Recovery Living services. Phase 1 allows ABCCM to provide 100 transitional housing beds (and future emergency shelter beds) that could potentially serve up to 240 women and children per year. ABCCM’s Steps to Success is designed to permanently transition residents from homelessness into safe, permanent homes. Future phases will add permanent supportive housing with 102 one-bedroom apartments and 48 two bedroom apartments.
Brief History: ABCCM’s Steadfast House was a 50-bed transitional housing facility for homeless women and children currently having 188 on the waiting list; the Transformation Village Advisory Committee cast a new vision and goal to take every homeless woman and child off the streets in Buncombe County. With this vision in place, ABCCM purchased 24 acres of undeveloped land for Transformation Village, and built a SECU Center of Hope with the Ferguson Family Education Center.
Transformation Village operations are sustained by current donations with church and volunteer support. ABCCM’s area partners include, Buncombe County Health and Human Services, VAYA Health, and the Charles George Veterans Administration Medical Center plus AB-Tech’s Continuing Education program which provides professional certifications and licenses for living wage jobs. Additionally, ABCCM will continue collaborations with area organizations such as Our Voice and Helpmate to address domestic violence and sexual trauma; Mental Health and Substance Abuse organizations who work with ABCCM’s Recovery Living Services and ABCCM’s Medical Ministry to ensure that our residents are receiving the highest level of support as they transition into their permanent homes.
Transformation Village is located at 45 Rocky Ridge Road.
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