Long-term transitional home to open

 Mara Thompson

WPBN-TV (Traverse City)
 
CHARLEVOIX, Mich. (AP) — A transitional home for women and children that has been in the works for two years in Charlevoix is finally ready to open.
 
The Joppa House is following a new model in hopes of changing the lives of those who stay there. It’s going beyond giving these women a bed for the night. They created a program that will help them learn life skills and get out of the cycle of homelessness.

“This is a long-term relationship that we intend to have with our ladies,” Pastor Ginger Stevens, Joppa House Ministries director, told WPBN-TV in Traverse City.

Stevens got the idea after realizing homeless shelters didn’t always help women get out of poverty.

“A lot of young people, a lot of women, did not have the life skills they needed to sustain independent living and were finding themselves in the cycle of poverty and homelessness over and over and over again,” Stevens said.

The Joppa house has a program called Stepping Stones. It will take women anywhere from six to 18 months to complete. It starts with basics such as personal hygiene, and ends with teaching women how to get a job and be valued members of the community.

Directors said the home wouldn’t be possible without the support of the community. 

The Joppa House is taking applications and doing interviews, and will begin housing women and children in July.