Inspirica
Inspirica, Inc.’s mission is to break the cycle of homelessness by helping people achieve – and maintain- permanent housing and stability in their lives. We are one of the largest providers of services to the homeless in Fairfield County. Each night, we house approximately 350 people, and each year we serve more than 850 people (including 250 children). We operate 11 facilities including emergency shelters, transitional housing, permanent supportive housing and deeply affordable housing. We further provide an extensive array of support services, including vocational training, workforce education, job placement, housing placement, job & housing retention support, early childhood & parenting services, children’s services, counseling, case management, and much more.
Generators
Our facilities operate 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. The installation of stand-by generators at Franklin Commons, McKinney House, and Gilead House provided with the support of NGP funds has been critical to ensuring the safe and stable operation of these buildings during power outages. (Power outages have occurred more frequently in recent years due to severe weather.) As a result, we are now better able to protect our clients, many of whom are mentally ill, physically ill or vulnerable, during times of stress.
Inspirica’s Franklin Common campus is (also known as the Center for Children and their Families) is a major center of social services in Stamford. It is home to Inspirica’s Family Emergency Shelter, Family Transitional Housing Program, Jumpstart Career Program, Early Childhood & Parenting Program, Children’s Services Program, Youth Center, administrative offices and much more. The building is also home to 11 other major nonprofit organizations, including Children’s Learning Centers of Fairfield County, Connecticut Renaissance, Franklin Street Community Health Center, Women’s Mentoring Network, Exchange Club Parenting Skills Center etc. In total, Franklin Common receives approximately 100,000 visitors annually.
The non-residential portion of the Franklin Common campus had windows that had never been updated. They were old, drafty, leaky, and had no screens. The installation of 24 all new vinyl, double hung, insulated, low-emissive glass windows has had a direct and meaningful impact on our overall operations as well as the operations of the other 11 nonprofits located at Franklin Common. It has further helped decrease our heating and cooling bills, saving us, and the other nonprofits in the building, much needed financial resources over time.
Security Systems
Ensuring the safety of our clients and staff is of the utmost importance to Inspirica. NGP funds were used to significantly upgrade the security system at 10 of our facilities with a state-of-the-art web-based system that allows each facility to be monitored through a network of cameras both onsite and remotely. As a result, we are now better able to maintain a safe environment for our clients and our staff. In addition to the above, the security upgrade at our Franklin Common facility has enhanced our ability to protect the 11 other nonprofits located on this campus.