Community support
CLOVERFIELD BLVD. — Naima Butler moved to Los Angeles from her native Canada just over three years ago, looking to help others with post-traumatic stress disorder. Soon after arriving, however, the program fell through and Butler ended up on the streets, with no means to treat her illness.
Through the help of Ocean Park Community Center (OPCC) and the city of Santa Monica, Butler was able to find housing and begin to put her life back together. Today, she is on the dean’s list at Santa Monica College and has just built a small recording studio in her apartment, where she writes her own music.
“OPCC helped make my dreams come true,” said Butler, a middle-aged woman sporting braids and glasses. “They provide encouragement to those in need.”
Butler joined with city officials and representatives from OPCC on Thursday for the unveiling of the new $11 million Cloverfield Services Center, a 22,000 square-foot housing facility at Cloverfield Boulevard and Michigan Avenue.
The facility — the first of two new centers to be constructed in Santa Monica by OPCC as part of a major expansion of services on the Westside — will offer housing for 55 chronically homeless individuals suffering from mental illness and other disabilities, officials with OPCC is a network of shelters and services for low-income and homeless youth, adults and families; battered women and their children; and people living with mental illness.
Founded in 1963, it is a community-supported organization in which staff, volunteers and clients work together to address the effects of poverty, abuse, neglect and discrimination.
Two programs will be housed at the center — Daybreak and Safe Haven — providing residents with access to social services, counseling, life skills training that includes financial and medical management, and art programs. Participants will also be linked to job training programs provided by agencies partnering with OPCC.
In addition to those living at the center, between 50 and 70 other individuals will have access to programs daily.
The facility, which will open officially in December, represents the first addition of beds to the homeless service system on the Westside in the past decade, and “comes at a time in which the number of homeless people has increased significantly, both nationally and locally,” said John Maceri, executive director of OPCC.
On any given night in Los Angeles County, there are more than 88,000 people who are homeless, nearly 2,000 in Santa Monica, according to the 2005 Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority census.
“This (facility) is going to have a significant impact on our ability to provide services,”Maceri said.“Not only will this double the number of beds we currently have — and to get people off of the streets you need beds for them — we will also be expanding our services to help even more people in need.
“Many people’s lives will be changed here.”
Maceri said the facility could not have been possible without help from several partners, including City Hall, state and federal agencies and private foundations, all of which contributed funding to build the services center.
City Hall contributed $7.4 million to the project, which helped OPCC purchase the property and make renovations. The building is owned by City Hall, which is leasing the space to OPCC for $1 a year for the next 55 years, said Bob Moncrief, housing and development manager for City Hall.
“This is a fine example of a public-private partnership,” Moncrief said. “This was a project that was born out of compassion and for practical reasons.”
With Big Blue Bus expanding its downtown facility where OPCC currently operates its access center, there was a need to relocate, Moncrief said. A new access center and Swashlock — showers, washers, lockers — facility is currently under construction near the BBB complex and is expected to be completed by the summer of 2007, Maceri said.
Formerly a boxy, post production facility, warehouse and print shop, the Cloverfield building has been transformed into a livable space by Killefer Flammang Architects, a local firm that specializes in affordable housing and adaptive re-use projects.
At the request of both the clients who will be served at the facility and the businesses and residents living nearby, the building was remodeled to include high ceilings and plenty of natural light, as well as a facade that blends in with surrounding structures, said architect Wade Killefer.
“A major goal of the design is to provide an engaging environment that conveys hope to the residents,” Killefer said.
Light will play a major role in the interior of the contemporary-styled building, Killefer said. Skywall translucent panels will control and diffuse sunlight on the western and southern exposures, while skylights and lightwells will channel natural light on the ground floor, filling the dormitories with warmth.
A ceramic masonry perimeter wall with landscaping will provide privacy for the residents, while adding beauty to the neighborhood, Maceri said.
“At first, there was a tremendous amount of misunderstanding and a fair amount of concern from the community,” Maceri said. “We made sure to do extensive community outreach, creating a community advisory board that included representatives from Bergamot Station, the Water Garden, Crossroads School, the Pico Improvement Organization and Virginia Avenue Park.”
Maceri said more than 150 pieces of art featured in the facility were donated by artists at Bergamot and students at Crossroads prepared welcome baskets for OPCC clients who will live at the facility.
“We are already talking about volunteer opportunities with (local schools and other community partners,” Maceri said. “We are looking forward to being their neighbors. I think we have developed a good relationship (with our community partners.)”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on November 17, 2006. Read the original PDF.