CLEVELAND, Tenn. -- Life Bridges Inc., a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping people with intellectual disabilities, has received more than $200,000 from the Tennessee Housing Development Agency.
The THDA Housing Trust Fund award was announced at a recent event at the Life Bridges facility, located on Old Chattanooga Pike in Cleveland.
The $203,960 grant will be used to purchase and renovate a home now leased by Life Bridges and occupied by its clients, said Diana L. Jackson, chief executive officer for the nonprofit organization.
"Renovations include widening door space and other improvements to ensure [Americans with Disabilities Act] compliance," she said.
The financial assistance will also enable Life Bridges to make the home fully code compliant and keep rent affordable for its residents, said Wes Bunch, communications coordinator for the THDA.
Jackson said Life Bridges' $360,000 match for the grant will be met by services in lieu of cash.
"We want our clients to live as independently as possible, and they will be supported through our in-home services," she said. "Our mission is to provide safe, attractive and affordable housing for them."
The home benefiting from the THDA grant is one of 34 residences supported by Life Bridges, Jackson said.
About 120 of Life Bridges' 175 clients live in those homes in small groups, she said.
The recent award makes at least the sixth grant received through the THDA, said board member Joe Cate, who was involved in the application process.
The grant, approved by the THDA board of directors in November, will support a project that is "closely aligned" with the goals of the Housing Trust Fund program, Ralph M. Perrey, THDA executive director, said in a news release.
"The Housing Trust Fund is open to creative solutions, designed locally," he said. "Life Bridges is proactively maintaining a key resource for a high-need population."
Bunch said the THDA created the Housing Trust Fund to provide financial support for "innovative, affordable initiatives that serve the housing needs of Tennessee's most vulnerable residents."
The agency has provided more than $30 million in Housing Trust Fund grants to local governments and nonprofit agencies across the state since 2006, he said.
Paul Leach is based in Cleveland. Email him at paul.leach.press@gmail.com.