Oft-troubled Suffolk homeless shelter gets new operator

SUFFOLK

The Center for Hope and New Beginnings - a homeless shelter plagued by financial mismanagement and turnover among its leadership - will transfer its assets today to ForKids, a Norfolk-based nonprofit organization that will operate the facility, officials announced Wednesday.

When the paperwork is signed this morning, the "Center for Hope and New Beginnings will be dissolved," said Carolyn McPherson, the center's interim executive director. "All of our assets will be gifted to ForKids."

It's the best plan for the shelter, which faces closure if something isn't done soon, she said. Services will not be interrupted.

ForKids will run the center as an emergency shelter for homeless families with children, with a maximum stay of four months, said ForKids executive director Thaler McCormick. It will be called Suffolk House.

Transportation will be added so residents can get to and from jobs and social services appointments, she said.

McCormick's agency already offers emergency, transitional and permanent supportive housing in Norfolk, and has served more than 1,400 families with 4,500 children since opening in 1991.

"ForKids is everything that the Suffolk shelter wanted to be when it grew up," said Win Winslow, board chairman of the Center for Hope and New Beginnings. "... Their programs are light years ahead of ours."

ForKids decided to take on the center at a cost of an additional $583,000 a year because the region can't afford to lose the family shelter, McCormick said. The agency emphasizes self-sufficiency and will operate under that same philosophy in Suffolk.

"We're going to reintroduce the community to the shelter," she said.

ForKids has hired the majority of the center's seven-person staff and plans to add two Suffolk residents to its board, McCormick said. A Suffolk advisory committee will also be formed.

Located downtown on Finney Avenue, the Center for Hope and New Beginnings currently allows homeless families and single women to stay for up to 60 days. Its targeted service area is Western Tidewater, including the cities of Franklin and Suffolk as well as Isle of Wight and Southampton counties.

The center receives government funds as well as contributions from private organizations and the community.

Since opening in the early 1990s, the shelter has experienced its share of problems. Former director Terry Lynn Miller pleaded guilty in 2006 to embezzling nearly $24,000 in federal money. Brenda Galen took over the director post the following year and was fired less than three months later because board members felt there were differences in "management philosophy."

Previously named the Suffolk Shelter for the Homeless, the center took on a new name in 2007 to reflect a fresh start.

But it never could afford to hire a permanent executive director with the kind of leadership skills and vision that the board of directors wanted, McPherson said. Several board members have since resigned and community leaders were losing interest in serving.

ForKids will provide the solid management the shelter needs, Winslow said.

"Without sounding too pie-in-the-sky," he said, "this could very well be the first step toward a regional solution for homelessness in Hampton Roads."

 Hattie Brown Garrow,(757) 222-5562,hattie.brown@pilotonline.com