MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — In fielding questions about the recently announced effort to centralize area social services in the former Ramada Inn building on Scott Avenue, Stephen Farmer of the Hazel Ruby McQuain Charitable Trust kept to a few central points.
One, no agencies will be forced or pressured to move anywhere or participate in anything they don’t want to.
Two, nobody, including WVU Medicine, intends to tell agencies how best to address their clients’ needs.
Three, the future of the 110,000-square-foot building with a full industrial kitchen and 10-acre property will be determined by the needs of the nonprofits that choose to inhabit it and the people they serve.
His comments were part of a recent session with representatives of more than a dozen local agencies, as well as elected officials and representatives of downtown business, law enforcement and WVU.
The Ramada Inn property was recently provided to WVU Medicine by Mark Nesselroad and the Hazel Ruby McQuain Charitable Trust with the vision of turning it into a one-stop shop for those in need of aid and services.
Farmer said WVU Medicine was chosen as the primary partner because it already has the kind of support structure in place to back such an endeavor.
For entities that choose to move, Farmer said space will be built-to-suit through partnerships with Mills Group and March Westin.
The agencies will have a lease agreement, but won’t pay rent per-se. Instead, the cost of operating the building will be divided among the tenant agencies, though Farmer said funds could potentially be raised to offset those costs as well.
The facility will have two governing bodies — one that will manage and oversee the physical property and a second made up of its inhabitants that would chart the way forward.
“This room is full of the knowledge and experience that I don’t have … You all have to fill it up and make it,” Farmer said. “Otherwise it’s just a building, and if it’s just a building, then we’ll figure out another charitable purpose to use the building for.”
The question of how people will get to the site has been a primary concern since the project was first announced.
Ron Justice, representing WVU, said talks have been initiated with Mountain Line Director Dave Bruffy.
Further, Farmer said, hundreds of people use services located downtown every day, but only a tiny fraction of that number are homeless or otherwise unable to provide their own transportation or use public transit.
“If we would have determined that this would fail if it was not downtown … then we wouldn’t have done it,” Farmer said. “What we’re strong believers in based on the research we’ve done is that the people are coming downtown because the service is downtown.”
A question was also raised about the potential need to keep the beneficiaries of the various services separated, particularly in the case of children or other vulnerable groups.
It was explained that there will be a law enforcement presence on site at all times.
“Remember that there can also be any level of security that is necessary designed into your particular space. If you have a constituency that needs to be separated, there can be separate entrances where they have to access to the interior portion,” Farmer said.
Monongalia County Commission President Tom Bloom said the facility offers an opportunity to eliminate any overlap in services — a necessary move as there is more and more competition for a stagnant or decreasing pool of money.
“The city, the county, we have limited funds. We’re going to have to, I’m not going to say consolidate, but if you have four groups that are giving food out, we’re having difficulty as a county commission funding all four groups providing basically the same services,” Bloom said. “If we could all get together and provide a better service with you all working together, that’s what the hope is.”
Farmer said the project is still in its infancy. He said agency representatives can begin touring the facility in the coming weeks.
Story by Ben Conley