JONESBORO — The closed Rainbow House could be converted into a homeless shelter, according to a plan presented to the Clayton County Board of Commissioners at its Sept. 12 work session.
Christian Guillen, founder and head of schools for 7 Pillars Career Academy in Morrow, spoke to the county commission about the plan.
The proposed homeless shelter at Rainbow House facility at 879 Battle Creek Road, Jonesboro, would be run by YouthServe360 Inc. — which is the same non-profit company as 7 Pillars.
The shelter would be for families and would have a capacity of 40 people, Guillen said. It would be a transitional center with families then going on to get affordable housing.
Commissioners had several questions for Guillen — including finances, violence and safety concerns, mental health, veterans, who the center would serve, and how success would be measured.
Guillen said the shelter would serve Clayton County Public Schools students and their families.
Guillen said each family would be assigned an intake specialist and each family would have to go through an extensive interview.
She added that they are partnering with Georgia State to measure success.
“If we don’t know the impact of what we’re doing then we really are not serving the people to its greatest capacity,” Guillen said of keeping track of how families are doing.
The initial cost is $750,000 with $1 million for the first two years. Much of the costs can be paid for from grants.
“This is an awesome work,” Clayton County Commission Vice Chair Felicia Franklin said. “This is the direction we need to go in to bring comprehensive support to our community and we have to start somewhere.”
In its Tuesday, Sept. 5 regular meeting, the Clayton County Board of Commissioners approved the reallocation of American Rescue Plan Act money from the closed Rainbow House.
The county will…
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