How will Center for Transforming Lives’ new campus expand its services for families, kids?
The Center for Transforming Lives will soon wrap up construction on its new headquarters in southeast Fort Worth, which will expand and centralize the nonprofit’s services that are focused on supporting women and children experiencing poverty and homelessness.
The new campus on the northeast corner of East Berry Street and South Riverside Drive is projected to serve an additional 30% of families in the first year through its services for housing, early childhood education, economic mobility and counseling, according to the nonprofit organization. With the center projected to open by February after more than a year of construction, the Star-Telegram toured the construction site of the roughly 65,000-square-foot building that sits on a 14-acre property. The land has been vacant since the mid-1990s, and the building was formerly a Montgomery Ward.
“The community response and interest in this project has been overwhelming,” Center for Transforming Lives CEO Carol Klocek said. “Our board members, our steering committee and our supporters have helped to turn our vision into reality. Thanks to their support, we are creating a community to support success and financial self-sufficiency for thousands of mothers and their families.”
A focal point of the expansion is the increase in child care slots from the current 72 to a new capacity of 106 children, as lack of child care is one of the most common barriers faced by women seeking employment and financial stability. The new child care center, open from 6:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. for children 6 weeks old to 5 years old, also includes a playground and outdoor learning area that is about 10 times larger than the nonprofit’s current outdoor space. Drop-in care will also be available to parents who are on-site and receiving other services, which can accommodate an additional 20 children who are no older than age 10.
Additionally, a new economic mobility center will foster entrepreneurship and include a makerspace, commercial kitchen, business incubators and an audio and video studio. Clients who qualify for and complete the nonprofit’s small-business program will have access to the space for free for six months, Klocek said. Other community members who have not completed the program will have access to the space on a sliding scale.
“If I have a cupcake business, I can make my cupcakes (and) I can show them being made in the display kitchen. I can have that filmed, I can edit it, get it on TikTok or Instagram, wherever my followers are, and promote my product that way,” Klocek said as an example.
The campus also will expand its number of rooms for on-site therapy services from two to eight, which will include two rooms specifically for play therapy for children. The nonprofit sees more than 200 clients a year for therapy services.
The Center for Transforming Lives had operated out of its downtown Fort Worth building at 512 W. Fourth St. for almost 70 years. It will become the city’s newest library branch after the Fort Worth City Council unanimously approved in August to purchase it for $6.4 million. An obstacle faced by the nonprofit at the downtown location, the new headquarters will be more accessible through bus transportation, as it’s located near a bus stop and bus transfer station.
One-third of single mothers with young children under the age of 5 live in poverty without access to child care or support for financial stability in Tarrant County. The nonprofit helps these families, many of whom are experiencing homelessness, overcome these obstacles through its services. Each transition out of homelessness creates a saving of about $20,000 annually for the community. Klocek said this number accounts for the costs of shelter stays for families and the likelihood that those children will be enrolled in Medicaid and special education services.
Based on the $20,000 annual savings estimate, the nonprofit says last year’s savings totaled at $4.6 million with 231 families moving out of shelters and 98% of them remaining stably housed. The nonprofit serves 3,000 women and children a year and describes its system as a “comprehensive, two-generation and trauma-informed model.” The trauma-informed approach was tied into the design of the new campus through fabric, lighting, acoustic panels and color choices meant to facilitate better well-being.
“In all of our programs and service delivery, we take both the parent and the child into account, tracking our activities and outcomes for both. The building then itself embodies that two-generation framework,” Klocek said. “We really believe that it has to be built into the architecture, your space needs to allow for it. Otherwise, it really keeps those parents with young children out.”
