The Career Center Program: The Our House Career Center provides job training, job search assistance, financial literacy courses, and life skills training to more than 600 homeless and near-homeless adults each year. In 2015, the Career Center helped 499 adults find full-time jobs, with 288 different central Arkansas employers. This program was formerly called the Learning Center, but with the opening of the new building, Our House is re-naming the program the Career Center to more closely align with its primary focus on helping clients succeed in the workplace.
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Construction Project: The nearly $1 million, six-month project included renovation of a 7,000 square-foot former VA ambulance garage. This building has been part of the Our House campus since 1991. For 23 years, it housed all of Our House’s education programs for children and adults. In 2014, with the opening of the new Our House Children’s Center next door, the children’s programs moved into a much bigger space, which created the opportunity to renovate the existing building. The project included extensive interior design changes to better accommodate the Career Center’s programs, while also upgrading major systems including a new roof, new electrical system, new HVAC, and more. The newly renovated building will have capacity to serve 120 adults at any given time, up from an original capacity of 30 two years ago.
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Herron Horton Architects designed the renovation. Flynco served as General Contractor. Evo Business Environments supplied the furniture. IK Electric provided the networking. DFI Architectural Signs provided the signage.
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The project budget also included purchase of an adjacent parking lot along Roosevelt Road, and the next phase of Our House’s campus master plan will involve incorporating this parking lot into the overall campus to improve traffic flow for pedestrians and vehicles.
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Fundraising: Our House raised $978,000 from 60 different funders to complete the project. Funders of $100,000 or more include First Security Bank, the Delta Regional Authority, the Windgate Charitable Foundation, the Ottenheimer Brothers Foundation, and the City of Little Rock Residential & Public Facilities Board.
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Our House: Our House is a 501c3 nonprofit organization with a 29-year track record of lifting central Arkansas families and individuals out of homelessness. Our House serves more than 1,800 people each year, and engages with more than 350 clients each day. Each day, 110 people live at Our House, 60 pre-school children attend Our House’s quality-rated early childhood education center, 90 school-age children attend Our House’s out-of-school-time program, 50 adults attend Career Center programs, and 90 families are engaged with our homelessness prevention program. All programs are located on a single seven-acre campus in south Little Rock. Our House has attracted regional and national attention for its success, including being named Nonprofit Organization of the Year by Arkansas Business in 2015.
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Our House’s mission is to empower homeless and near-homeless families to succeed in the workforce, in school, and in life through hard work, wise decision-making, and active participation in the community. For more information, visit www.ourhouseshelter.org.
