Roxie Mullins, Advisory Board Member | August 1, 2024
With one year of operations under its belt, Opportunity House met its short-term goals and built a strong foundation for further growth. Plans for Opportunity House’s first year aimed to have capacity for eight residents in the organization’s LGBTQ+ housing site. The first apartments opened on June 1, 2023, with capacity for four residents. In February, the site doubled in size thanks to support from funders and community members.
Goals for the second fiscal year, which started July 1, are centered around developing a second housing site to serve the Dutchtown community of south St. Louis City. The new site is expected to open in spring 2025 with four beds. “We want to grow, growing is important,” says Robert Donnelly the organization’s Executive Director. “But having more beds [alone] does not solve the problems that our young people are facing.”
To ensure the success of residents, Donnelly plans to expand on the way in which Opportunity House delivers services. The organization seeks to hire a case manager to assist residents in achieving their goals. Opportunity House will also secure an office space. This will provide a space for staff, as well as a convenient location for monthly events for residents. Speaking of events, those are another area in which Opportunity House’s services are growing. Residents have shown great interest in learning critical skills, socializing with each other and even managing events themselves. In July alone, they participated in a cooking skills demo and hosted a barbeque together.
That being said, events aren’t only for learning the essentials. Donnelly plans to start a new type of regular meetings to recognize residents’ achievements and birthdays.
“I realize that our young people don’t always have anyone to celebrate a birthday with them. So we’re going to do a quarterly birthday celebration,” Donnelly said. “I’m calling it a birthday and awards ceremony. We can celebrate residents on a regular basis for the things that they’re doing well, because they don’t always get to hear that from other people.”
