An organization proposes to open a shelter for teens in crisis - in the middle of a residential neighborhood. Some neighbors show up to object to the plan, but not many. Other neighbors praise the idea, saying these young people need a place to go for help. The board charged with deciding whether to allow the plan to proceed passes it unanimously.
Score one for those with open minds and hearts.
With the approval of the Clearwater Community Development Board on Tuesday, Family Resources Inc. can move ahead with plans to build the new 16-bed shelter at 1615 Union St. on the border between Clearwater and Dunedin. The building now located on that site, formerly occupied by the British Academy private school, will be torn down. The abandoned school building has become home to transients and rats, neighbors said, and several fires have been started there.
Family Resources plans to demolish the building and replace it with a $1.2-million one-story structure that will have 16 beds for teens as well as office space for the agency's family counseling services. The offices, which are open only during the daytime, now are located in a leased building in Largo.
The new complex will allow Family Resources to close its current 12-bed teen shelter on Turner Street near downtown Clearwater. That aging building has become a liability to Family Resources, which is a private nonprofit social services organization.
Family Resources needed a large site where it could consolidate its shelter and offices, but the Union Street site was risky. It has homes on three sides and a church on the fourth. Given the negative reactions and fears spawned by other youth center proposals in some parts of Pinellas, Family Resources seemed in for a rough ride.
And, indeed, last fall there was some opposition from neighbors who heard about the proposal and feared that their peaceful community would be overrun with young criminals looking for trouble. How often that fear, usually unwarranted, has been expressed when needed programs for youths have been proposed in Pinellas, especially in residential settings. Opponents have sometimes been so vociferous that the organizations involved went elsewhere, fearing violence against their young clients.
Family Resources staff explained that the shelter would not house criminals, but would provide short-term shelter for young people ages 10 to 17 who were having family problems, had run away from home or may have been abused. Police often bring youths to the Clearwater shelter when they are found wandering the streets or have been involved in family disputes.
The shelter is a safe, temporary home until the problems can be smoothed out and it provides an alternative to dumping such kids into foster care or a detention center. The average stay is eight days, and the teens and their families often continue with counseling at Family Resources after a shelter stay ends.
At Tuesday's Community Development Board meeting, only a handful of residents stood up to express those kinds of fears. Far more persuasive were the police who spoke admiringly of Family Resources' work on behalf of young people, the neighbors of the current Turner Street shelter who said it is nearly "invisible" in the community, and the pastor of Union Street United Methodist Church that borders the proposed shelter site.
"There is a real need for this facility for the northern half of the county," the Rev. James Morgan said. "These are kids who need some help."
Today's world is tough for kids, especially if they lack a stable home life or have emotional problems. They do need help sometimes, just for a while. It is encouraging to know that one neighborhood along Union Street is willing to reach out a hand.
