As board chair of Vincent House, a nonprofit mental health services center, Withlacoochee River Electric Cooperative’s David Lambert regularly works with families striving to support loved ones with mental illness.
“Housing is the number one priority of families,” said Lambert, executive vice president and general manager of the Dade City, Florida-based co-op and Vincent House board member for 10 years.
“It’s very scarce and it’s hard to get into a safe place,” he said. “But a roof over somebody’s head provides a stable foundation for a good life for these folks.”
In the coming years, thanks to WREC’s steadfast support, 39 affordable homes will be available to Vincent House members receiving services in two counties. Fourteen homes recently went up in Pasco County, and groundbreakings will take place soon in Hernando County.
In both counties, the 600-square-foot, one-bedroom, one-bath homes will be located near “clubhouses,” the agency’s service hubs where residents will still be able to participate in job training and social and life skills activities.
In Florida, one in six people living with severe mental illness are homeless, and access to safe and stable housing represents a chance for purposeful, independent living, said Elizabeth Statzer of Vincent House Pasco.
“WREC has been an extraordinary partner from day one,” she said. “Their commitment to our members extends far beyond funding; they have invested their time, energy and belief in our mission. Because of that dedication, people who once had nowhere to turn will have a safe, stable place to call home.”
From start to finish, the co-op has been involved in all phases of the homes’ construction, including materials procurement and project management. To help finance the $8 million project, WREC has leveraged its community connections, resulting in several million in Community Development Block Grants and other federal funds. Employee donations are also part of the mix.
Lambert has thrown his energy into improving the community’s access to mental health services since 2014, when he first took a tour of Vincent House in Pinellas County. The Florida chapters are two of the 360 members of Clubhouse International, a global mental health nonprofit with clubhouses in 33 countries.
WREC’s longtime involvement also has led to a partnership with Vincent House Pasco on a transitional jobs program for clients as well as support for the 2020 construction of a third clubhouse in the area.
The transitional jobs program provides experience for Vincent House clients to work 12 hours a week as district service aides at WREC’s headquarters for six months. Statzer screens and hires members, and if someone calls in sick, Vincent House sends one of its own employees to fill in.
Employment for those with mental illness, even if it’s temporary, changes lives.
“It’s the confidence of having a chance,” Statzer says. “Our members are some of the most motivated people that I know. They just need that opportunity, and then you just watch their confidence grow and flourish and maybe they can get their own job or go back to school.”
Ian Magnusson, 24, works full time as an IT service specialist in WREC’s Dade City office after graduating from the program a few years ago. Before that, he was homeless and living in a shed with no running water. He’s the first aide to go on to work full time at the co-op.
Magnusson, who lives in an apartment and is studying for cybersecurity certification, appreciates working at a job he loves in an organization with a family atmosphere.
“It’s nice to be in an environment that’s professional and also lively, where everybody knows your name and it’s not a cubicle graveyard,” he said. “I like the people a lot.”
Giving everyone the chance to lead purposeful, independent lives is rooted in the co-op’s principles, Lambert says.
“The cooperative has worked tirelessly to improve mental health access in our communities,” he says.
“Every day, we should do the best thing we can do to make a difference in our community, and I really think co-ops do that,” he says. “If we don’t improve the lives of people we serve, who will?”
Victoria A. Rocha is a staff writer for NRECA.