New Bridgeview site to take the long view

Lately, local conversations around poverty have centered on short-term solutions: finding shelter for homeless people, getting them food and securing subsidized housing. The nonprofit Bridgeview, however, is looking at long-term solutions, the kind that break the cycle of poverty and reduce the number of people who need public assistance.

The agency looks to open the Bridgeview Education and Employment Resource Center. The building would house, or at least be a touch point, for agencies such as WorkSource, Clark College and the Clark County Food Bank. The idea is that resources are easier to access and navigate if they’re concentrated in one place. And then, through those supports, people get back on their feet and become more self-reliant.

“The benefits of this building might not be seen for a long time,” said Jan Wichert, Bridgeview’s executive director.

The 8,500-square-foot center is part of the revitalization plan for Skyline Crest, a 20-acre Section 8 housing community in the Vancouver Heights neighborhood. The plan calls for classrooms, offices, a computer lab and teaching kitchen at Bridgeview, which would share a wall with the new Boys & Girls Club that’s being built. A sign on a fence near the construction site says the Bridgeview center is “coming soon.” How soon, though, hinges on the next legislative session and how giving local philanthropists are.

Bridgeview has already secured $1 million from Vancouver Housing Authority and $350,000 in grants and donor pledges. To complete the project, the agency seeks $1.2 million from the Legislature and $1.4 million from donors.

The problem with drumming up support is that a lot of people have never heard of Bridgeview, much less know what it does, Wichert said. Since 2012, the agency has worked on behalf of Vancouver Housing Authority to refer people to resources, education and employment needed to become more independent.

“We’re young as nonprofits go,” Wichert said, not to mention the focus is less on Bridgeview and more on the what partner agencies can do for people. Those in crisis typically need help from more than one place, and knowing where to start is not intuitive.

Multiple solutions

When Amanda Owens found herself on the verge of homelessness as a single mother, she knew she needed help.

“I ran around and called all these different places,” the 26-year-old said.

The process made her feel run-down and frustrated, she said.

“A place like this (Bridgeview) would give people hope immediately,” she said.

She didn’t just need housing. Owens took financial classes, found work, went to school, took parenting classes and got help paying off her debts.

Owens said if something like Bridgeview had existed when she needed help, she would have gotten assistance sooner and gotten back on track sooner. Now, Owens has her own apartment and pays her own bills. She’s working part time at Clark College, is set to graduate in the spring and looks to continue her education at Washington State University Vancouver.

Bridgeview advocates say housing stabilizes struggling families, but it’s not the solution to homelessness and poverty. About 65 percent of Section 8 clients are not able to work; they’re either elderly, disabled or both, said Roy Johnson, VHA’s executive director. The remaining 35 percent are able to work, but are often underemployed or struggle to secure a stable job that pays a living wage.

At Skyline Crest, the per capita income is around $21,000, which is below the state poverty level of $24,008.

By connecting people with resources, they can begin to move up the financial ladder. It may be a slow process, but it takes pressure off support systems. Take a woman who used to work sporadically and lands a full-time job as a secretary; she may work at minium wage and still require subsidized housing, but not as much as when she was working sporadically. And if she has children, those children see their mother working full time. It establishes a new norm.

Although the Bridgeview Education and Employment Resource Center would be inside Skyline Crest, it would be open to all Clark County residents. Wichert estimates the center would serve 3,000 people in the first year.

Right now, Bridgeview operates the Rise & Stars Community Center at 500 Omaha Way, a place built in 1963 that was never designed for such a use. It housed Vancouver Housing Authority offices until 1999, when the agency moved downtown. Now, it’s a smorgasbord of offices and a multipurpose room used as a children’s play area and a place to hold classes. Eventually, the building will be torn down to make way for a 25-unit subsidized apartment complex, Caples Terrace.

Vancouver Housing Authority is also renovating the duplexes and four-plexes at Skyline Crest.

Supporters meet

Recently, legislators, philanthropists and those who work for nonprofits crowded into the multipurpose room at Bridgeview to talk about supporting the project.

State Rep. Sharon Wylie, D-Vancouver, supports the project and said that homelessness is not something the city, county or the housing authority can solve on its own. She said she remembers when the Council for the Homeless was created in response to rampant homelessness. Since then, she said, we’ve learned how to braid services to best help people in need.

“This particular project takes all of that knowledge we’ve gained over the last 25 years and takes the next step,” Wylie said.

Rep. Paul Harris, R-Vancouver, Mayor Tim Leavitt and Vancouver City Councilor Alishia Topper all said they would also push for the Bridgeview project when the legislative session starts in January.