Funding Urgently Needed for Brooklyn Center Hotel Partnership to Help Homeless
Funding Urgently Needed for Brooklyn Center Hotel Partnership to Help Homeless
A unique partnership to help the homeless between a Brooklyn Center hotel and a Minneapolis nonprofit could end March 31 due to lack of funding, CCX News has learned.
A state contract provided funds to Minneapolis-based 2ndChanceProject to manage the Hotel-to-Home program with Radisson Hotel Brooklyn Center. The partnership arose out of the pandemic when homelessness spiked. The program has helped more than 80 individuals find long-term housing solutions.
The 2ndChanceProject partnership started last fall after a previous partnership resulted in problems and a rise in crime at the hotel last summer. That all changed when 2ndChanceProject took over.
“It took a strong sense of will. I put together a good team,” said C.J. Jessup, founder of the 2ndChanceProject. “We didn’t have any overdoses. We started seeing the results of our work.”
Jessup, who himself was homeless during his youth, says the basic premise of his nonprofit is providing a family structure.
“We want to bring it back to the root of everything. We want to give these families some structure so that when they get out there on their own, they will have that structure to be able to build off of,” he said.
A Family’s Story of Homelessness
Howanda Williams has relied on family to get her through tough times.
“I was staying with relatives, but, you know, staying with people can be hard. You just want your own personal space, but I had nowhere to go.”
Williams ended up moving from Iowa with her fiance and the couple’s three children, ages 8, 4 and 1. The family was in search of a better life and a new beginning. However, difficulty finding a job to afford rent hasn’t helped. But Williams was able to find out through a relative about 2ndChanceProject.
“They feed us breakfast, lunch and dinner. Anything they provide, they provide everything for us. We didn’t have a dime,” said Williams.
The state funds allowed the family to stay at the hotel until 2ndChanceProject could help find a long-term housing solution.
“It’s still shocking and overwhelming to believe that it’s people like 2ndChanceProject to help you fight and don’t give up,” she said.
The nonprofit not only helped the family lease an apartment, it even helped give Williams’ fiance, Demeco Irvin, a job at the hotel.
“We put our pride aside and came here,” he said. “They treat us like family.”
While 2ndChanceProject provided a positive result, unless it gets more funding, it might not be able them and other families with similar situations in the future.
“Everybody wants these results, but still everybody says, ‘well, we don’t have the funding,'” Jessup said.
C.J. Jessup, founder of 2ndChanceProject
‘It’s a Blueprint That’s Proven to be Effective’
Cameron Corrigan, general manager of Radisson Hotel Brooklyn Center, says the partnership exceeded all expectations.
“We didn’t expect the program to go on this long,” said Corrigan. “It’s just showing the relationship between Radisson and 2ndChance, it’s working.
“Even after the vaccines come out, there’s still going to be a need for helping people that are homeless, in transitional housing, whatever that may be. There’s still going to that need,” he said.
At one point, the partnership helped up to 50 families at the hotel. Today, there’s only enough money to operate about 10 rooms for homeless families. By the end of the March, it will down to zero, unless more funds come through.
“If we don’t get this funding by the end of the month, those 10 families are going to be back on the street. Those 10 families are going to be in a homeless shelter or somewhere else where they don’t deserve to be. And so it’s like we start the process all over again,” said Jessup.
For nearly half a year, the Brooklyn Center hotel has been Jessup’s home away from home. He believes his nonprofit’s partnership with Radisson can serve as a model to ending homelessness here and beyond.
“We created an avenue that not only could bring jobs back, but it can help the economy, it can help the city…help the hotels as well,” he said. “It’s a blueprint that’s proven to be effective.”
Jessup added many hotels still face a long struggle until the travel and hospitality industry recovers.
What’s Next for Funding?
2ndChanceProject and the hotel continue to seek different funding avenues to keep the partnership going. Jessup is also hoping some of that $1.9 trillion stimulus bill that President Biden signed into law will trickle down to help with his initiative. Hennepin County’s Office to End Homelessness indicated that it’s still awaiting word on possible federal funds.
You can learn more about 2ndChanceProject on its Facebook page. The nonprofit also has a GoFundMe page to raise funds.
