Graduate and board member Monique Roberts, left, and Executive Director Erin Creal talk about graduation successes at Chattanooga Room in the Inn. The nonprofit agency recently marked its 30th anniversary.Chattanooga Room in the Inn is marking its 30th anniversary by making plans to expand the facility with a capital campaign launching within the next five years.
Executive Director Erin Creal says she wants to secure financial support for more housing so that the women in the program can live more independently and have more space. The facility also needs a community center to give children a safe place to play and a building to store furniture to help outfit a home when a woman graduates from the program.
“This is our grand plan,” she says. “We will seek out partners to make it happen.”
Everything is preliminary, she says. She has no cost estimate, but expects the expansion will be expensive and require private and public support.
If it is able to expand, Room in the Inn would mirror other transitional programs where women live on their own and receive supportive services for two years instead of nine months.
Creal believes women would have an easier time transitioning into independence because they would be learning life skills while living in town homes instead of the dormitory-style housing where they now stay. Several women have complained of being lonely after moving from the dorms to private units once they completed the program.
Creal’s wish list has 10 town homes – five with three bedrooms and five with two bedrooms. She hopes to find property near Room in the Inn so that the facility doesn’t have to move.
Her current location is convenient for many residents, and it’s on the CARTA bus line, she says.
She’s interested in acquiring a vacant, county-owned building behind Room in the Inn. That land, at 225 N. Holly St., is valued at $165,500, according to Hamilton County Real Property records.
Contact Yolanda Putman at yputman@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6431.