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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Tuesday, March 15, 2005

YWCA gets $600,000 from state

By Eloise Aguiar
Advertiser Staff Writer

MAKIKI — The governor has released a $600,000 grant that will enable the YWCA to complete renovations at its Fernhurst transitional facility, and expand programs for women who are ready to move out of treatment programs and halfway homes but lack financial stability.

The capital improvement money is the last amount needed to complete a $3.25 million renovation of Fernhurst Transitional Residence for Women and Children, on Wilder Avenue in Makiki. The center has been providing shelter to young women at a reasonable cost for more than 90 years. More recently it opened its doors to women with children, offering a safe temporary environment with support services and job training.

The majority of the renovation project is completed and includes bringing the first floor into compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, upgrading the plumbing and electrical systems, expanding the Women's Resource and Technology Center, improving the kitchen area for a culinary job-training program, adding handicap accessible rooms and giving the place a general facelift.

The $600,000 will allow the organization to pay off a loan for the project and refocus its resources on programs for women, including offering rent subsidies, said Cheryl Ka'uhane Lupenui, president and CEO of the YWCA.

"Now we can explore further how to increase their economic self sufficiency while they are staying with us," Ka'uhane Lupenui said, adding that although any woman can stay at the facility, the YWCA wants to keep some rooms available for women who lack the financial wherewithal to afford permanent housing.

The facility has 40 rooms to rent, two of which are handicap accessible. It has six computer stations, a dining room, a TV room and coin-operated laundry. Fernhurst can accommodate as many as 80 people but averages about 65 to 70. Children are allowed, but it's not 100 percent child ready, she said.

Fernhurst closed at the end of 2002 for the renovation but construction didn't begin until 2004. It reopened a pilot program in August of last year. Since then the organization has refined its focus, Ka'uhane Lupenui said. With the governor placing a priority on helping the homeless, Fernhurst realized that it could fill a housing gap when women leave a halfway house, a domestic violence shelter or drug treatment facility and are looking for permanent housing, she said.

"We're that next transitional step where they're not fully independent," Ka'uhane Lupenui said. Women can live at Fernhurst for up to a year — time to find a home and job, improve their job skills and build savings for that first month rent, she said.

The only requirements to stay are an ability to live independently in a group-living environment and pay in advance, Ka'uhane Lupenui said.

People are charged according to their ability to pay. Full price is $48 for a single room per night, $38 for double-room, $28 for income eligible. The cost includes daily breakfast and dinner.

In announcing the release of the $600,000 yesterday, Gov. Linda Lingle said a combined private-public funding made the project possible. The YWCA raised more than $2.2 million through a grant from the Harry & Jeannette Weinberg Foundation and the sale of some of its land. Fernhurst also received $250,000 from a Community Development Block Grant.

"Fernhurst provides an invaluable service to help women and children who are facing difficult and often dangerous circumstances by providing a safe and supportive environment," Lingle said. "The generosity of the private donors, combined with these state funds, will enable the YWCA to continue to help women overcome hardships and move toward self-sufficiency."

Reach Eloise Aguiar at eaguiar@honoluluadvertiser.com or 234-5266.