Opportunity House becomes homeless shelter with second ribbon cutting

Opportunity House had a second ribbon cutting on Thursday as the facility has now become what it was billed as in the beginning: a homeless shelter.

Elected officials, city workers and representatives of other nonprofits filled every seat in the spiffed-up auditorium and then lined the walls — 100 or more in all — as former Pine Bluff Mayor Shirley Washington spoke, followed by Depaul USA representative Sandra Guillory and then Mayor Vivian Flowers.

Washington recounted the times early in her administration when she would see people up early roaming the streets and then would ask her staff, “Why don’t we have a shelter?” Eventually, the answer was that yes, Pine Bluff could and should have a homeless shelter, with Larry Matthews, director of Economic and Community Development for Pine Bluff, becoming the “main player” to get the job done.

“God intended it to be,” said Washington. “I don’t want it to be identified as a homeless shelter. This facility will give people the opportunity to rise and allow us to celebrate their success.”

Flowers thanked Washington for “planting the seed” but then emphasized that there’s just so much any mayor can do.

“Nothing happens because of a single individual,” Flowers said. “Leadership in the mayor’s office comes and goes and that includes those on the City Council. But it’s the public servants – people who have been here three years, five years, 10 and 20 and 40 years who stay late and volunteer and know how to make things happen. And they do it out of service to their community.”

Flowers said the expanded service of the facility, which was a part-time day room when it opened last year, was especially critical for Pine Bluff, given the federal cutbacks that have affected food and shelter availability for low- and no-income individuals.

Flowers wondered aloud if the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program will be available and to what extent. Politico reported earlier in the day that half of the states — including Arkansas — said they were ending SNAP on Nov. 1 because lawmakers in Washington can’t agree to a funding bill.

“If SNAP goes away … this place will be full,” Flowers said.

The urgency to expand the day room to a full-time overnight shelter grew after the Salvation Army announced in May 2024 that it would close its own shelter due to a lack of funding.

Several people were introduced either as part of a group, such as those on an advisory committee that helped guide the process of bringing Opportunity House into existence, or as individuals. One was Chris Taylor, the first on-site director of the facility, who oversaw some of the final renovations to the facility, which is located in the old First Ward School on East Sixth Avenue. Another was Tiffany Copeland, a grant writer for the city, who successfully applied for a significant shot-in-the-arm $250,000 grant from Lowe’s — money that was used to provide needed infrastructure for the sound but out-of-date First Ward School building, which closed years ago.

All three speakers made the point that the homeless shelter was more than a place for a homeless person to lay their head.

Guillory, interim executive director of Depaul USA, said that when the facility opened in May of last year — the cause of the first ribbon cutting — “three curious clients” walked in the door the first morning to have a bite to eat. Since then, she said, 400 people had come through the doors to get a shower, have a meal and seek some type of assistance.

“Ninety-three people have moved on to find their own personal housing,” Guillory said to applause.

The path to Thursday’s announcement started in 2022 when the city selected Depaul USA to run the facility in large part because of its experience helping people in various ways in the United States and other countries. Currently, Guillory said, the agency is helping 7,000 people in 12 cities in the U.S. but added that Opportunity House “is our first emergency housing project.”

Depaul said at the time that an annual budget for a full-time homeless shelter would be around $540,000. Washington said then that the figure was within reach with $200,000 coming from the city and $300,000 coming from other sources. Washington was, however, never able to find those funds, later saying that the city would only be able to provide $100,000 for just one year. Consequently, the facility was only able to operate for half-days on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

Now, however, the city has committed close to what was originally planned. A $200,000 ceremonial check was delivered on Thursday with Guillory saying later that the city has said up to $400,000 has been promised over each of the next two years — bringing the total commitment from the city to $1 million — and that other grants totalling $220,000 had been obtained. Depaul, which has a separate operation in Little Rock, also raises money for Opportunity House from that area.

Still, sufficient money will be an issue, as it is for most if not all nonprofits. After everyone exited the auditorium to go outside for the actual ribbon cutting, Washington said the fundraising effort for Opportunity House needed to be more organized and that she and others would work toward the creation of a large fundraising event around Oct. 10 of each year, which is World Homeless Day.

The new director of the facility is Cynthia Ramey, who took over earlier this month.

“I tell people this is Day 14,” she said with a laugh.