ORLANDO, Fla. — The Christian Service Center has been given funding to greenlight for a unique project.
The additional funds include $4 million from the City of Orlando and $1,195,523 from the Community Redevelopment Agency. The funds will be distributed in installments over 18-24 months, for a total of $5,195,523 invested in the day center for people experiencing homelessness.
City spokesperson Ashley Papagni said as part of its goal to reduce the number of unsheltered homeless by 50% in three years, the city and CRA will fund modern facilities as well as create a comprehensive day services campus for the Christian Service Center.
Papagni also said the CSC will provide a space for the unsheltered during the day while they’re accessing services and waiting for assistance for housing, employment, clothing, showers, laundry, storage, mail services, case management, rent/utility and substance abuse/mental health services.
A resident of the Parramore community supports the project. She wants to see similar efforts to expand services into other neighborhoods too.
Anna Ashie has lived in the Parramore community for 11 years. She loves the neighborhood and serves as the president of the Lake Dot Village Neighborhood Association.
“My community, my neighbors, the proximity to downtown,” she said. “It’s very close to my job, my husband’s job, my kids’ school.”
She has raised three sons and has chosen to stay there, in part due to the history of the Parramore community.
“My husband and I wanted to make sure that we were raising our boys in a diverse area that looked like them,” she said.
On a cloudy afternoon in Orlando, she continues her walk to one of the mobile bathrooms installed at Lake Dot Park. She says it ties into the history of the higher proportion of unsheltered people in that area.
“You have a high concentration of services in this neighborhood, you have Salvation Army, which is here behind me, you have the Christian Service Center, you have the coalition for the homeless, you have the Healthcare Center for the Homeless and right cross the way is Orlando Union Rescue Mission,” Ashie said.
Ashie says her neighborhood has borne the brunt and carried the load of housing the majority of social services for the homeless in Orlando and the region.
“I genuinely was very glad to see these installed because I’ve personally had people trying to use the bathroom on my front lawn and haven’t had that issue since these were installed and that’s just an example of a small victory trying to navigate the practical realities that a lot of other neighborhoods are not navigating because they aren’t living in proximity to social services,” she said.
She says she’s supports the funding to the Christian Service Center.
“It’s in everyone’s benefit. For me, more the issue is that what I want to now see is this be an example, a model of what other communities need to be doing in their own backyards,” she said.
The Christian Service Center anticipates being able to serve 350 unique individuals daily and 3,000 unique individuals per year on its campus.
The CRA is also providing operational funding at the Christian Service Center for three consecutive years in the amount of $300,000 each year for a total of $900,000.
Spectrum News reached out to the city of Orlando to get a response to Ashie’s concerns.
Papagni said in a statement:
“As a city, we know there are additional challenges that still need solutions. One of the needs heard most from the residents in the Parramore and west lake neighborhoods is the need for additional overnight shelter and more day and evening services located throughout the region. That is why, as part of the action plan, the city continues to explore the addition of a low-barrier 24/7 shelter for all persons without restrictions.“