Haven, YWCA should focus on shared mission

Two groups and longtime neighbors who have excellent records for serving people in need in the Bristol community – the Haven of Rest and the YWCA – are at loggerheads over the Haven’s proposal to build a residential treatment center for people with addictions adjacent to the YWCA on State Street.

This disagreement is understandable, but we believe there is room for a compromise.

The YWCA board supports the Haven’s mission, but leaders there object to people with addictions living near the YWCA and its playground, which is used by youngsters in its child-care program. The program offers sliding-scale payments for parents, which means lower-income families can afford quality child care. The program, through grants, also accounts for about 70 percent of the YWCA’s funding.

“We just feel it’s not good planning for a residential facility with individuals with addictions to be located next to a licensed child-care program,” YWCA Executive Director Kathy Waugh said. In many communities, zoning rules and land use regulations restrict the proximity of such treatment centers to child-care centers, libraries and schools. But that is not the case in Bristol. So when the planning commission meets Monday to consider a special-use permit for Haven of Rest to build the proposed facility, the proximity of the project to the YWCA alone should not be a consideration.

Plus, after meeting with representatives from both groups, we endorse the Haven of Rest plan, under the following conditions:

* Women, not men, living nearest the Y. The YWCA focuses on empowering women and we believe it could find common goals with Haven of Rest in serving women who are overcoming addictions and would be housed in the new residential treatment center. A facility for men would be built on the Haven’s existing campus. It’s worth noting that the existing residential center for men is just a few hundred feet from the YWCA and there are no records of police being summoned there nor any complaints filed by the YWCA.

* Screening process. Haven of Rest must adhere to screening processes that eliminate people with histories of sexual crimes or violent behavior. Executive Director Wayne Sheridan said he also would implement tougher policies to include fingerprinting and additional background checks. Sheridan also should do anything reasonably requested to allay the fears of YWCA leaders regarding the screening process and monitoring to ensure residents are making progress.

* Fencing, lighting, security. Sheridan offered to install needed lighting or other security measures in the area and noted he was meeting with city officials later Wednesday to discuss the neighborhood’s needs. We strongly support additional lighting and fencing to ensure that people from the center cannot easily cross to the YWCA property. It is worth noting that for about five years, men who are part of the Haven of Rest’s Lighthouse program have been working in the mission’s thrift store adjacent to the YWCA. There are no reports of anyone going over to the YWCA playground or into the center itself. And according to YWCA leaders, no child has left the playground.

That’s because the YWCA works to ensure the children in its programs are properly supervised and its playground is surrounded by a privacy fence. And the Haven of Rest diligently screens participants in its programs and monitors them during their work hours.

In fact, Sheridan said, YWCA officials were unaware that men from the Lighthouse program were working at the thrift store and had been doing so, without incident, for five years.

Can we guarantee there will never be a problem? There are no guarantees in life. But there have never been 911 calls from the existing residential treatment center. And there have been no incidents involving men in treatment who work at the thrift store.

* Develop ways to partner. The YWCA leadership is protective of its child-care program and the children who visit the center each day. We commend them for their stewardship of this important program. We believe parents who participate in YWCA services know the importance of helping neighbors with addictions in a supervised way. And we believe there are untapped ways the YWCA could serve women with addictions who would be part of the Haven of Rest programs. These service groups are a natural fit to help women with addictions and should focus on ways to work together.

YWCA leaders worry about losing existing revenue if parents pull out of the child-care program because of the Haven project. We don’t believe parents are that alarmist.

* Financial benefit to Bristol. In about three years of generating support, Haven of Rest has raised $700,000 for the new residential program project. The mission is supported by about 150 churches in the region. Sheridan said the mission also could receive a $500,000 grant from a federal home loan bank for its Second Street women’s facility. The money is tied to the property beside the YWCA. Certainly, if Haven of Rest is denied the special-use permit, it could seek a similar grant for another site. But construction prices are low enough now that the $1.2 million investment would allow the mission to build two facilities, produce the construction work locally and add jobs on the mission’s staff.

We clearly understand the YWCA’s opposition. But the Haven of Rest has been a good neighbor for years and Lighthouse program participants have worked near the YWCA playground for five years without incident. We believe, if Haven of Rest adheres to its stated plans, that building a women’s center near the YWCA better aligns with the mission of the YWCA and would benefit the necessary work of both groups.