Transitional Housing Kitchen Remodel Project

Transitional Housing Program strives to continuously assess and improve services that address the current and most pressing needs of residents. First and foremost is the need for a secure and healthy home. Over the past several years, through community grants, CMC has been able to make much needed improvements to our housing program facilities, keeping them safe and functional. But our facilities are also an important part of programming outside the need for shelter. A recent partnership with the Cedar Rapids Soroptimist Clu

b has opened an opportunity to dream a little bigger for our facilities and the programming that we can offer.

The Healthy Women’s Series, a group learning and treatment model, often addresses issues of health and wellness. Many women in poverty lack the resources or know-how to prepare healthy meals. Through our partnership with the Soroptimists and other community

support, we hope to remodel and transform the current kitchen space in our main building to provide a functional, classroom-style kitchen for residents. The current kitchen has limited workspace that is not conducive to group learning and has outdated appliances and cabinetry. The kitchen space is so limited that only two women at a time can use it comfortably. These confining conditions can be a trigger for survivors of violence. Our new kitchen design takes into account best practices for dealing with trauma and will allow all of the women to feel safe in the space as they cook for themselves and learn as a group.

We’ve dreamed, we’ve planned, and now we need your help!

To achieve our dream and build a better, more efficient and accommodating kitchen, we continue to rely on grants and community partners. Our dream is big and comes at a cost of more than $50,000. We hope to cover much of this cost through donated labor, appliances, materials, and funds. We’d like you, your organization, or your business to be our partner in making this dream a reality. Please consider contributing to our project in some way. Every partnership is another vital ingredient in this recipe for empowerment.

For more information on how you can help click here to read our complete Kitchen-Project-Proposal!