SPOKANE, Wash – Revive Center for Returning Citizens received a grant from the Washington Health Authority that provides initial housing costs for those with substance abuse challenges.
Kurtis Robinson, the former NAACP President, is now Executive Director of the Revive Center for Returning Citizens and said this funding allows them to fill a gap in the system, “we finally have an opportunity now to do the thing that people have been saying needs to be done.”
Robinson told NonStop Local that the new grant provides each person who is eligible with $7200 that can go towards vital housing and rental costs like first and last month’s rent, application fees, background and credit checks fees, hotel/motel expenses (for up to 60 days), etc.
Harland Wable, the owner of Straight to the Point Counseling Services, said in his over 20 years of experience, securing a home after treatment is essential, “if you don’t have a place to live, it’s going to help you in your recovery program, then it’s almost doomed to failure.”
Wable added that this new grant points those in recovery in the right direction, “with Revive’s program, the possibility of success is extremely high.”
Robinson says the grant is only in its first week; there are already 20 applications pending, and they have already distributed a handful of grants. He added the key to this program is meeting people where they are, “We started receiving applications and went into some emergency funding dynamics right then and there.”
Robsinson’s message to those skeptical of the housing first approach is, “Let’s do the thing we haven’t done yet. Let’s walk that through to fidelity before we start trying to poke holes in it.”
You can find the application here: https://acrobat.adobe.com/…/urn:aaid:sc:US:534d5f0c…
