Conditions improve at Hope Campus, but challenges remain

Changes in who administers the grants and a drop in community donations left Hope Campus feeling the pinch earlier this year. But conditions are improving for the Fort Smith facility that provides temporary housing and homeless support services.

The Fort Smith facility, located at 301 S. E St., and its programs began as an idea in 2009 from the the Homelessness Task Force and City of Fort Smith to address homelessness in the region. From 2013-16, the Old Fort Homeless Coalition received $1.1 million in federal and private money to purchase and help renovate the structure that would become the Hope Campus.

The facility includes a dormitory, men’s and women’s showers, kitchen, cafeteria, barber shop, laundry room, library, community room, classroom, dog kennel, and a medical clinic provided by Mercy Fort Smith.

In early summer, Kasey Wilson, Hope Campus executive director, said a switch in the state agency providing key grant funds resulted in the operation losing about seven months of funding. Wilson said the operation, which provides a wide array of services to about 135 people daily during summer months, lost about $120,000 because of the switch.

At that time donations were down almost 50%, from around $16,000 a month to around $8,500 a month, Wilson said.

FINANCIAL RELIEF
By late July, the immediate financial threat facing the downtown campus had relented after the agency laid off six employees, or about 27% of total staff, according to Wilson. Wilson and members of the Hope Campus board and others in the community took to social media in early July to raise the alarm about the facility’s future. And it helped, Wilson said.

“The community really helped out,” Wilson said.

The organization also is getting grant help quicker than in the past, which also is a big help, he said. In the past it could take from three weeks to three months to get funds from the Emergency Solutions Grant Program, which administers funds through reimbursement of funds spent. Now those reimbursements are coming about three weeks from submission, which is helping greatly, Wilson said.

“It has really helped, but now we’re looking at a problem with overlap with the new funding cycle and the old one. With the delays we had we might not have access to funds. We’ll have to deal with that down the road,” Wilson said.

SUCCESSES
But there have been celebrations along with the financial stress. The city of Fort Smith donated a metal pavilion from Hope Park, across Riverside Drive from the U.S. Marshals Museum, to Hope Campus in August. With help from Forefront Church and Arkansas Refrigerated Services, the pavilion was dismantled, moved to the Hope property just outside the campus, and rebuilt.

Sleeping dorms on Hope Campus are closed during the day so they can be cleaned, and there is no indoor space for residents to stay inside during those hours.

“We really hope that the guests can use that time to try to find a job or to work on other things they need to do. But we notice there are some that are just hanging around and they weren’t even noticing they were getting blistered,” Wilson said.

The pavilion, which opened Oct. 1, offers shelter from the sun for those who need it. Sebastian County has agreed to construct a fence around the pavilion, which will serve to make it a shelter in cold weather and to serve as a screen, Wilson said. Grace Community Church also donated new washers and dryers to the facility.

“We had eight washers and dryers for the public to use along with two big commercial ones. But only about three of those were working. Now we have new ones,” Wilson said.

Those allowed 593 loads of laundry to be completed in October, he said.

CAMPUS USE NUMBERS
In October, there were also 866 emergency showers at the campus and 2,491 shelter stays. There were 3,856 “heads on pillows” during the month. The organization was also able to restart helping with rent for those facing eviction in order to stay off homelessness after stopping the assistance in the summer.

The campus had 47,051 “heads in beds” in 2024 and served more than 138,000 meals in 2024.

With cold weather starting, the campus will see even more demand with warming stations opening anytime the weather is below 35 degrees, so the need for donations is still great, Wilson said. The Emergency Solutions Grant is a 100% matching grant, so the campus must have donations in order to receive funds. The best help is by those setting up recurring donations that can be counted on every month, Wilson said.

“Every dollar that is donated is matched, that means double the donations are put back into the community through economic impact,” Wilson said.

Hope Campus has an open house from 4 to 6 p.m. on the second Tuesday of every month with the next open house scheduled for Dec. 2.

“We serve some refreshments and give tours. We want people to come out and see what we are doing. When they do, they fall in love with the place,” Wilson said.

So much so, that they donate their time as well as their dollars. In October, volunteers donated 4,657 hours to the campus.

“I really want to see this place be a success. I’m from here. I want to improve our community. And I believe we can do that,” Wilson said.