New Hope for Families breaks ground on new site; announces capital campaign
New Hope for Families Board President Andrew Allard (COO of IU Credit Union), Capital Campaign Steering Committee Chair Sue Shindell (one of New Hope’s founders), New Hope Executive Director Emily Pike, Kellen Fulford (age 12), City of Bloomington Deputy Mayor Mick Renneisen, and Peri Fulford (age 7)
April 12, 2021 — New Hope for Families broke ground today on a new home at 1140 S. Morton Street in Bloomington. Construction on the site began this morning and is expected to be “substantially complete” by the end of this year. Building of the new campus and expanded facilities will be supported by a $5.75 million capital campaign.
The groundbreaking ceremony took place at 9:00 a.m. on the site of the new location and featured remarks by City of Bloomington Deputy Mayor Mick Renneisen along with representatives of New Hope’s staff, board of directors and campaign volunteers.
New Hope is constructing two new buildings at our new location. One building will provide emergency shelter to local families experiencing homelessness. The other building will house our early childhood care and education programs.
Construction is being managed by Gilliatte General Contractors of Indianapolis.
The new facility will increase New Hope’s in-house shelter capacity for families to a total of 12 at a time. This is a 70% increase over our current limit of 7 families. The new facility will also increase the capacity of New Hope’s early childhood care and education programs from 16 to 48 children. This is a 200% increase over our current enrollment.
About New Hope for Families
New Hope for Families has emerged as a community leader in social services for families in crisis. New Hope is the only place in Monroe County where families with children can find emergency shelter together.
New Hope for Families executive director Emily Pike and Bloomington deputy mayor Mick Renneisen break ground on New Hope's future home with some of the kids from our early childhood care and education program.
“This mission is important to our community because we believe families are stronger together, and that no family should have to separate to receive vital services,” explained New Hope Executive Director Emily Pike.
In addition to emergency shelter and case management services, New Hope offers nationally accredited childcare and early learning programs. Research has shown that access to high quality early education is key to making a positive, long-term impact on children and the communities where they live.
The increased capacity in early childhood care and education programs created by this move will address the community’s unmet need for these services.
“Access to affordable child care enables parents to get back to work. Access to high quality early learning programs helps to prepare kids to succeed in school and in life,” said Pike. “In addition to our groundbreaking, today marks the beginning of the National Association for the Education of Young Children’s Week of the Young Child, which aims to bring attention to the importance of early childhood care and education programs and the hard-working teachers who are dedicated to them. New Hope is proud to offer early learning programs of the highest caliber.”
Bloomington Mayor John Hamilton expressed his support for New Hope’s work. “The City of Bloomington works very hard on affordable housing, and one of the most important things we get to do is partner with great collaborative entities like New Hope for Families. Many of us don’t think about families when we think about people experiencing homelessness, but far too many are families and children. New Hope does a fantastic job with their commitment to helping kids and families, and they are making Bloomington a better place for everyone.”
About the Capital Campaign
New Hope has already received $3.4 million in gifts and commitments for this project and is seeking public support to reach our goal of $5.75 million.
The future home of New Hope for Families, located at the corner of S. Morton St. & W. Patterson Dr. in Bloomington
Among the early supporters of the campaign is New Hope’s own dedicated board of directors, chaired by Andy Allard, COO of IU Credit Union.
“The members of our board of directors are 100% supportive of this important project,” Allard said, adding, “Before we asked the community to step up, we solicited our own members. I am pleased and proud to report that the current and past members of the New Hope for Families Board of Directors have already collectively committed over $600,000 to the New Hope capital campaign This represents more than 10% of the overall campaign goal.”
New Hope co-founder and long-time community activist Sue Shindell remembers the agency’s humble beginnings, “Ten years ago, a small group of dedicated volunteers and compassionate community leaders resolved to create a resource for families who weren’t being served in our community. We started out serving just three families at a time. We knew the work was important, but we couldn’t have imagined what it would grow into. Now, less than ten years later, we are breaking ground on a $5.75M project that will provide emergency shelter for up to 12 families at a time and early childhood care and education for up to 48 children at a time.”
Shindell has led the fundraising efforts over the past 18 months and announced a team of dedicated community members who will be enlisting support from the community in the coming months. The group is led by Dan Peterson and includes Shindell, along with Don Adams, John Barada, Chris Cockerham, John Hurlow, former Bloomington mayor Mark Kruzan, Gigi Larmour-Goldin, Smithville Charitable Foundation’s Darby McCarty, Liz McCrea, Sylvia McNair, and former Bloomington city clerk Regina Moore.
Pike says the whole New Hope team is enthusiastic about the project. “Emergency shelter and support services are in high demand for children and families in our community. This campaign is our agency’s response to the urgent and ongoing needs of the community. Our board and staff are enthusiastic about this project.” Pike added, “Honestly, it was very difficult to keep quiet about this while we completed the quiet phase of the campaign, and I can’t tell you how excited we are to welcome our compassionate community into partnership on this important project.”
Learn more about New Hope’s $5.75 million capital campaign
Artist's rendering of what the new facility of New Hope for Families will look like once construction is completed. Artwork by Jon Messer. (Download full size)
