The Peace House started a capital campaign to raise nearly $12 million about three years ago. They’ve raised the money through public and private funding and have started the construction of their new campus at Quinn’s Junction. Carolyn Murray has this:
For those involved with the Peace House of Summit and Wasatch Counties, they’ve known for a long time that the facility for domestic abuse victims was insufficient. While they had a secret and secure emergency shelter, it did nothing to help victims and families transition into normal life after escaping the cycle of abuse. Now, with the successful capital fund project complete, the Thrive Campaign is building what they call a bigger, better and stronger shelter. The Peace House Community Campus will include 12 Transitional Housing Units, a new secure public location and deeper program offerings including Outreach Services.
Capital Campaign Manager Eliza Springmeyer kicked off the campaign in August of 2015. They’ve reached their goal of $11.6 million through a combination of private and public partnerships.
“5.77 million of that was raised through our public private partnerships. So that is many of you will remember, the funding that first came through to support this partnership was a partnership with Summit County and Tanger Outlets. That also includes wonderful support from Park City Municipal including the land in partnership with Intermountain Healthcare. We received the parcel of land that our building is currently being built upon and also some affordable housing credits. We also received a Federal Home Loan Bank competitive grant as well as recent support from the Utah Legislature.”
Springmeyer says the community support from all around the state made up the additional $5.9 million. Do TERRA Healing Hands Foundation provided the final grant money to complete the capital project. Peace House Executive Director, Kendra Wycoff says in conversations with the foundation, they shared an objective which is to help communities become self-reliant.
“They have a number of missions for their foundation and they appreciate the good work that’s happening globally to support women and children in their safety. They also focus on human trafficking as an issue and have some incredible efforts to provide advocacy and service to individuals who have been impacted by that issue.”
Bus routes to Quinn’s Junction are not yet available. With the new services they offer, Wycoff says public transportation to and from their facility is needed.
“Transportation can be a significant barrier for survivors as they’re accessing services and our new facility is going to have residential services as well as outreach services so we’re going to want to continue to have that dialogue and insure their support when it comes to transportation for folks we are serving.”
New programs like Transitional Housing and the Child Care Center will be part of ongoing maintenance and operations costs. Springmeyer says they’re hosting a tour next month at the new campus.
“Now that we have reached our campaign goal we are really glad we can focus on operating the programs and fundraising for that and we are having a hard hat tour so if anyone wants to come and see the progress out at the site, and learn more about the programs this new facility will be able to make possible, it will be on July 17th, that’s Tuesday at 3:30.”
The new Peace House Campus is set to open in the spring of 2019. Springmeyer can be reached at 435-776-6949.
