Posted October 19, 2022
DOORWAYS, 1101 N. Jefferson Ave. 63106
NEW 3-ACRE CAMPUS TO MEET GROWING NEEDS
$40 Million Investment in Jeff-Vander-Lou Neighborhood
St. Louis, MO – October 19, 2022 – Local nonprofit DOORWAYS, an interfaith agency providing housing and supportive services for those battling homelessness or unstable housing, poverty, and poor health from HIV, held a ceremony and ribbon-cutting on Wednesday, October 19, 2022, at 10 a.m. to mark the opening of its newly completed $40 million campus, located at 1101 North Jefferson Avenue. For details about the need, the model of care, the capital campaign, and the grand opening, please visit the webpage:
The Jefferson Avenue Campus
A nationally pioneering model of care, this state-of-the-art campus is designed to deliver 360 degrees of comprehensive services, removing access and navigation barriers to create a network of client support including housing, empowerment programs, and resource access.
“Our new campus will be an anchor in this neighborhood and a resource for the entire region,” Opal M. Jones, president and chief executive officer of DOORWAYS, said. “It is one of the largest community investments in the North St. Louis area in decades. We are thrilled to turn our long-term vision of expanding the reach of DOORWAYS into a reality.”
The three-acre complex is comprised of two primary buildings, with construction slated to begin on a third structure in 2023. The largest building is a multi-story 35,000 square foot building, which contains 50 units of housing for up to 112 people per night. The second, a 20,000 square foot building, is located along Jefferson Avenue. It includes a client services and programming facility, numerous private rooms for client intake services, community room, and administrative offices.
Throughout the campus, DOORWAYS will offer on-site services such as behavioral health counseling with 24/7 crisis intervention, a provisions pantry for emergency food supplies, employment assistance, medical case management through AIDS-serving organizations in the Ryan White system of care, and multimedia classrooms for self-development programs on topics such as computer literacy, GED and HiSET instruction, stress management, financial literacy, and household-budgeting. In addition, a conference room equipped with a demonstration kitchen will allow DOORWAYS to offer hands-on healthy cooking and nutritional counseling sessions.
“Today’s ribbon-cutting and opening ushers in a significant new era for DOORWAYS and tremendously increases our organization’s ability to serve our clients,” Jones said. “It also creates numerous opportunities to partner with our local community.” The new campus features a planned retail pharmacy, as well as meeting space that can be used for community screenings, health fairs, and job fairs. It will also create a social atmosphere to allow DOORWAYS’ clients to have a source of community interaction, free of stigma and fear.
DOORWAYS’ new campus is also a landmark in public art and social consciousness. A well-known sculpture by renowned African American artist Kehinde Wiley was installed at the southeast edge of the new campus. The statue, titled Rumors of War, is one of nine smaller versions, or “editions,” of a larger sculpture that Wiley created to display African Americans in a position of power and leadership. The work is on generous long-term loan to DOORWAYS by the St. Louis-based Gateway Foundation.
Development partners for the project include: Advantage Capital Partners, BSI Constructors, Busey Bank, RISE Community Development, Rosenblum Goldenhersh, RubinBrown, Trivers, and Vatterott Properties. Partners joining DOORWAYS in providing programs and services for clients at the new campus include: Behavioral Health Response (BHR), Employment Connection, Food Outreach, Saint Louis University Psychological Services Center, and Vivent Health.
About DOORWAYS
Founded in 1988, DOORWAYS is the only organization in the St. Louis region whose sole mission is to provide affordable, secure housing and related supportive services for people living with HIV to improve their quality of life and health outcomes. This mission is based on research that demonstrates that stable housing is the primary requisite for the most effective and compassionate treatment, management, and prevention of HIV. DOORWAYS provides comprehensive flexible and permanent housing options, as well as subsidies to prevent homelessness for those in their own accommodations. The goal is to provide clients with the resources needed to nourish, stabilize, and strengthen the environments that are essential to advance one’s life. These include housing; physical, mental, and emotional healthcare; education; income and financial literacy; and a supportive community. In 2021, DOORWAYS provided services to 3,548 men, women, and children in the St. Louis region. In the last four years alone, the number of people DOORWAYS annually serves has increased by 22 percent.
To learn more about DOORWAYS: https://doorwayshousing.org/
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Karen Carpentier
314-328-2704 | kcarpentier@doorwayshousing.org
