Our Community Place

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Our Community Place
Our Community Place building
Building exterior in 2007
Alternative namesOCP
General information
Statusnonprofit
Typecommunity center
Address17 East Johnson Street
Town or cityHarrisonburg, Virginia
CountryUnited States
Coordinates38°27′21″N 78°51′53″W / 38.455765°N 78.864641°W / 38.455765; -78.864641Coordinates: 38°27′21″N 78°51′53″W / 38.455765°N 78.864641°W / 38.455765; -78.864641
Elevation38.455765
Groundbreaking1999
Construction started2001
Completed2008
Opened2008
Other information
Seating capacity108
Parkingrear/street
Website
Our Community Place
References
EIN 54-1835664

Our Community Place is a community center created in a former Salvation Army building located in Harrisonburg, Virginia, United States. The building was converted to a community center after Ron Copeland acquired ownership in 1999. After a lengthy renovation period, the center opened to the community in August 2008.

History[]

In 1999, Ron Copeland, owner of the Little Grill Collective across the street, purchased the then-vacant Salvation Army building at 17 East Johnson Street in Harrisonburg, Virginia — with hopes of creating a community center as an extension of the weekly soup kitchen he operated at his restaurant. Our Community Place opened to the Harrisonburg, Virginia community in August 2008.[1]

After a brief "hiatus" to allow for review and redirection, the center reopened October 11, 2011. Founder and by-then former executive director of the organization, Ron Copeland, said this was not a "reincarnation as a change so much as a refocusing on its original mission." According to Copeland, OCP staff and volunteers had become "overworked" by a single aspect of the organizational mission: serving as a day homeless shelter. This led to a decision by the board of directors to close the center temporarily on September 1, 2011.[1]

We didn't just want to be a place for homeless people to be able to have a day shelter or whatever and serve people food. That's not all we did. It's just that was so overwhelming, it was hard to develop programming aligned with our vision, which is to bring people of different walks of life together.

— Ron Copeland

Community center hours were significantly reduced after reopening, and Philip Fisher Rhodes took over as executive director. The 28-year-old central Valley native had first gotten involved with Our Community Place a few years before. Copeland continued to serve as pastor and president of the board of directors. As he said, "I had three full-time jobs, and I gave up two of them. . . I'm very excited to begin focusing on the work of the church I'm a pastor of." Copeland directed Early Church, a Mennonite congregation that meets at OCP.[1]

The center, which had been offering its lawn as a place for area homeless to reside, was forced to end this policy in the summer of 2019 by the city of Harrisonburg.[2]

At O.C.P., we’ve had people sleeping on our property. They are technically not supposed to be doing that. We have nobody there to sanction it or keep it safe or monitored.

— Eric Olson-Getty, OCP director of development and administration

July 29, 2019 was the last day "people could stay at our property [overnight], and the primary reason for that was that the city has made clear that under the current laws our zoning does not allow for overnight sheltering,” said OCP director Sam Nickels. This change in availability of space for the homeless to stay forced the city to consider developing other options.[3]

The OCP building does not meet the fire safety and building code required by the State of Virginia for accommodation spaces. It is not easy to turn away people who are in need, however as city leadership it is our responsibility to ensure people are safe. We cannot approve anyone who is in violation of the required safety and building codes. Harrisonburg is a fast-growing community, which mean our vulnerable populations are also growing. We have to come together as a community to address these issues.

— Mayor Deanna Reed

This situation freed OCP to focus on its priority programs. As Nickels stated:[3]

OCP’s mission is not as an overnight shelter. We’re trying to do this for the community and for folks who are homeless, but once that time period is over we need to go back and exclusively focus on our day programs. Our goal is to challenge the city and the county to work with us and other agencies in town to work towards coming up with an appropriate solution for next summer, because this is going to happen again.

City Manager Eric Campbell stated city staff had been working for months to identify gaps in the local services offered to homeless people and wondering, “How do we begin to address these gaps?” He considered the “ongoing coalition” useful for discussing solutions among both city and nongovernmental organizations. Council member George Hirschmann saw further discussion helping “identify lanes of action that we could put a price tag on.”[3]

Community role[]

OCP operates and manages a community center that "offers creative community meals, recreational activities, meaningful work, rest from the elements, positive relationships, spiritual guidance, and some basic services for individuals struggling with homelessness." It also runs a restaurant every Friday at lunchtime which provides "an opportunity for employment, skill building volunteerism, and a fresh hot meal for those who are housing and financially insecure in our area."[4]

“OCP focuses on creating a space where people with diverse experiences can pause and hear themselves scream for help from within,” Leons KaBongo Place Activities and Programming Coordinator. “When you are knocking on doors and no doors will open, this will be the place to go to,” he said. “There is no place like OCP. It is a home away from home where everyone that walks in those doors can take a breath without being judged. That is the spirit if OCP and that is why we open the doors.”[5]

In a January 7, 2021 letter to the editor entitled "Nobody Should Be Hungry" in the local newspaper, executive director Sam Nickels, appealed to the citizens of Harrisonburg to refer people to OCP. "We serve a free hot breakfast Monday through Friday at 8 a.m., lunch at noon, we hand out groceries to families in need, and refer people to a variety of resources that can help with utility payments, rent/mortgage payments. We help people access housing when homeless and other needs. . .", he wrote.[6]

The center "provides 17,000 meals a year to the city’s homeless and others with food insecurity, in addition to a number of other services, including laundry and shower services, storage lockers, case management, volunteer and job training opportunities, and help finding housing.[7] Other shelter services for the homeless in Harrisonburg look to OCP to provide overflow support when the weather turns particularly cold. As Ashley Robinson, shelter director of the Open Door Thermal Shelter, said during a cold snap in January 2022, “What we’ve been looking into is possibly extending hours and working with other organizations like Our Community Place, just trying to keep our unhoused neighbors safe and warm.” The center opens on weekends for such emergency use.[8]

The center began working with Harrisonburg-area landlords in 2020 to help them better understand the needs of OCP's client population. Property management companies tend to erect "barriers, making it difficult for those who are low-income, have been previously incarcerated, or have a history of eviction to gain access to equitable housing." In 2020 OCP placed upwards 50+ people in permanent housing. They had "solidified 15 placements" through the Spring of 2021.[9]

Humankind Water, as part of a new program called “The Humankind Water Drop” with the goal of delivering 100,000 liters of water to homeless shelters across the country. In August 2021, the organization donated water to Mercy House in Harrisonburg. Executive Director of Mercy House, Shannon Porter, said of the donation:[10]

It’s really a resource that is going to be very helpful to us and not just our shelter, but our community. We plan on sharing this donation with Our Community Place and the Open Doors shelter. There’s a lot of people on our streets right now that need this type of assistance. It is hot during the day and there is no shelter for them during the day so this is going to be put to use very quickly.

Housing[]

OCP aims to “Move more folks out of chronic homelessness and into these permanent housing units with supportive, ongoing case management to try to help them not fall into the circle of going in and out of housing but to stay in that housing and overcome the barriers they have in life.”[11] The center helped 90+ homeless people find housing during the COVID-19 pandemic.

I remember one woman who moved in, and then she came back to me and said ‘My mouth is sore because I haven’t smiled this much in forever.’

— Sam Nickles

“Unfortunately, most of our community members have barriers to housing that prevent them from accessing it through the conventional market” Tim Cummings, OCP Housing Specialist, said. In response to these challenges, Nickles announced in December 2021 that “our big news is we’ve just purchased our first property. It has two units in it and we hope to expand it to four units. It’s sort of a pilot program, so if it works out well, hopefully we will do another one.”[11]

Garden[]

Activities and programming coordinator, Leons Kabongo, directs the Young Jupiter Market Garden, an OCP project, "where community volunteers help prepare the soil, plant and harvest the produce and, of course, pull weeds." According to the developer of the garden, the “Young” in the name is meant "to inspire youth to learn about their environment, nature and growing their own food." Kabongo wants the garden "to be a place that marginalized people can come to as a refuge." The garden operates on a half-acre between two houses nearby the center on Madison Street.[12]

Kabongo grew up with a little garden at his house in the Democratic Republic of the Congo where he “used to always arrive to school dirty. My school uniform had dirt on it because I had worked in my little garden before heading off to class. I never loved to stay inside. I need to be outdoors.” He came to the U.S. at 14, playing American football well enough in high school to get an athletic scholarship to Shepherd University in West Virginia. Graduating there with an economics degree in 2013, he was on his way to a career with the World Bank when he encountered Bruce and Greg Butler, brothers who run a large farm in Inwood, West Virginia.[12]

The Butler brothers said to Kabongo, “You were meant for something great, why are you here?” Working a one-year internship on their farm, Kabongo grew "dozens of fruits and vegetables and raise(d) beef cattle" and realized his “body, mind and spirit were being fed.” The "Jupiter" in the name of the garden he founded in Harrisonburg was meant to give others the feeling he found working the land.[12]

Fundraising[]

Chris 'Critter' Fuqua (guitar) with Ketch Secor (banjo) at benefit show.

OCP fundraising events include a monthly Night Out, with a local chef preparing food. For years they offered an annual bicycle festival and plant sale. They produced four Christmas CDs made up of songs donated by area musicians and those friendly to OCP. On January 14, 2012, Ketch Secor and Chris "Critter" Fuqua of Old Crow Medicine Show performed in a benefit concert for OCP across the street at the Little Grill Collective diner. Secor and Fuqua in junior high school in Harrisonburg and performed often at the Little Grill open mics.

For the second time, Impact Ministries of Elkton, Virginia – founded in 2012 by Pastor Brad Lewis in a garage – chose OCP as the organization to sponsor with one of its charity motorcycle rides in 2019. Thirty riders participated in the fundraising event on a Saturday in October, raising over $500 in charitable contributions.[13]

As a result of the COVID-19 shutdown, OCP decided to combine their two major fundraising events – a Fall Gala and the Christmas Concert – in 2020.[14] Local chef Tassie Pippert worked with the center's cooks to prepare the dinner for the Fall Gala. Ketch Secor of Old Crow Medicine Show and Trent Wagler of The Steel Wheels performed during the live-streamed concert.[14] Executive director, Sam Nickels, described getting through the pandemic as "an unpredictable and crazy roller coaster."[7]

We’ve lost a lot of money from fundraisers that have not happened, but we’ve gotten a lot of support from the government’s PPP program (Paycheck Protection Program), The Community Foundation emergency fund, and our donors have also really stepped up."

— Sam Nickles

OCP worked with three other Harrisonburg organizations – Mercy House, Open Doors, and the Suitcase Clinic – pooling their resources to "bolster aid . . during the era of COVID-19, which has required an additional level of coordination to keep vulnerable clients safe and healthy."[15] The center benefited from Federal funding through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act passed by Congress[15] which allowed the center to retain all of its existing staff and giving them "the freedom to hire additional staff to meet the expanded programming needs stemming from the COVID-19 emergency,” said Eric Olson-Getty, director of development and administration.[16]

Solar panels[]

In 2018, Give Solar, a nonprofit organization founded by Jeff Heie, decided to make OCP their next project, after previously working with Eastern Mennonite University and Gift and Thrift in Harrisonburg. The organization "raises money and seeks grants to provide solar energy to other nonprofits that can benefit from the cost savings that solar energy can provide." $25,000 in solar panels were installed with the help of volunteers in a “solar barn-raising”. Give Solar was granted $9,000 by the Merck Company Foundation. An additional $9,000 had been raised through crowdfunding and "affinity groups". The solar panels are expected to reduce the community center's electric bill by 75 percent, which should amount to about $3,600 a year in savings.[17]

Personnel[]

As of February 2021, Sam Nickels served as executive director[6] and Leons Kabongo was Place Activities and Programming Coordinator.[5] Eric Olson-Getty was administrative director. Nickels earns just under $40,000 per annum in salary.[18]

Tim Cummings serves as Housing Specialist.[11]

Gallery[]

  • Mural on front of building
    March 11, 2008

  • Ron Copeland meets with James Madison University students
    March 24, 2008

  • Serving food at soup kitchen in Little Grill Collective
    May 23, 2008

  • Arts and Crafts night
    May 20, 2008

  • Tandem bicycle riders in Shenandoah Valley Bicycle Festival
    July 28, 2012

  • Old-time country band The Lotus Eaters perform at plant sale
    April 19, 2008

Major organizational funders[]

In February 2018, OCP received a $3,000 grant from the Wells Fargo Foundation, proceeds from which they planned to use "to supply nearly 400 meals". Grant recipients were chosen by local branches of Wells Fargo banks.[21] The Denton Family Foundation presented OCP with a check for $33,200 on November 16, 2021.[20] The foundation annual hosts a golf tournament to raise money to donate to non-profit organizations in Harrisonburg and Rockingham County. On presenting the check, Terri Denton, whose father established the foundation, said:[20]

I hope Our Community Place will get a better understanding in the community that they will be sought and seen. They do such good work here. We have charities that are known by name and this one, maybe not quite as much, so I’m hoping this will help them to have more fundraising in the coming years.

References[]

  1. ^ a b c Hunt, Jeremy (2011-10-10). "Our Community Place Goes Back To The Basics". Daily News-Record. Retrieved 2021-02-12.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  2. ^ Manley, Bridget (2019-07-01). "City leaders pulling together ideas to address 'nightmare' for those experiencing homelessness". The Harrisonburg Citizen. Retrieved 2021-05-06.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  3. ^ a b c Knupp, Jeremiah (2019-08-02). "With the OCP lawn no longer available for overnight stays, service providers say it's time for a year-round, publicly-funded, low-barrier shelter". The Harrisonburg Citizen. Retrieved 2021-05-06.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  4. ^ "Our Community Place | United Way of Harrisonburg and Rockingham County". getconnected.uwhr.org. Retrieved 2020-11-24.
  5. ^ a b Jessica, Wetzler (2019-11-28). "HOT FOOD, WARM SMILES: Our Community Place, Volunteers Provide Thanksgiving Meal". Daily News-Record. Retrieved 2020-11-24.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  6. ^ a b Nickels, Sam (2021-01-15). "Refer People To Our Community Place". Daily News-Record. Retrieved 2021-02-12.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  7. ^ a b Gorton, Eric (2020-05-26). "Some nonprofits see outpouring of support as they adjust to new realities". The Harrisonburg Citizen. Retrieved 2021-05-05.
  8. ^ Johnson, Colby (2022-01-25). "Harrisonburg's homeless facing another tough week with cold temperatures ahead". https://www.nbc29.com. Retrieved 2022-01-27. {{cite web}}: External link in |website= (help)
  9. ^ Moses, Desiré. "Hear Together: Our Community Place". WNRN. Retrieved 2021-07-04.
  10. ^ Marcellino, Isabella (2021-08-16). "Humankind Water donates to Mercy House". WHSV. Retrieved 2021-08-16.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  11. ^ a b c Church, Chelsea (2021-12-13). "Community Spotlight: Our Community Place". WHSV. Retrieved 2021-12-15.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  12. ^ a b c Marcus, Holly (2019-11-04). "A market garden with a remarkable backstory". The Harrisonburg Citizen. Retrieved 2021-05-05.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  13. ^ Williams, Megan (2019-10-14). "Bikers Ride For Our Community Place". Daily News-Record. Retrieved 2021-02-12.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  14. ^ a b Pynn, Calvin. "Our Community Place Combines Annual Fundraisers". WMRA. Retrieved 2021-05-05.
  15. ^ a b Lorei, Tristan (2020-05-21). "How 4 groups created a safety net". The Harrisonburg Citizen. Retrieved 2021-05-05.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  16. ^ Hagi, Randi (2020-05-08). "Hburg starts to get federal funds". The Harrisonburg Citizen. Retrieved 2021-05-05.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  17. ^ Williams, Megan (2018-11-08). "Solar Group Installs $25K in Panels at Our Community Place". Daily News-Record. Retrieved 2021-02-12.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  18. ^ "Our Community Place". Non Profit Data. 2020-09-14. Retrieved 2021-05-05.
  19. ^ "Home". Our Community Place. Retrieved 2020-11-13.
  20. ^ a b c Rogers, Kyle (2021-11-17). "Denton Family Foundation presents check to Our Community Place'". www.whsv.com. Retrieved 2021-11-18.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  21. ^ Stout, Nolan (2018-03-02). "Our Community Place Receives $3,000 Grant". Daily News-Record. Retrieved 2021-02-12.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)

External links[]

Retrieved from ""