The apartments – at 428 Adams St. – are separate from but adjacent to the repurposed settlement house, which is now a community service facility. It includes a certified senior adult day care program, a federally qualified health care center, a physical therapy suite in a former small gym space, offices for BFNC, community outreach space and an Evans Bank branch. It’s within walking distance from a city bus route.
Westminster is the first affordable housing development for the BFNC, which provides help with mental illness, substance abuse, affordable housing, financial training and taxes, and also offers youth programs and services.
BFNC previously developed or took over state-licensed group homes in existing buildings, including a small apartment building at the corner of High and Lemon streets, and also constructed a group home in 2011 at 423 Monroe, next to Westminster. But the settlement house project is much bigger.
Settlement houses were formed more than a century ago to address problems tied to urbanization, immigration and industrialization. Westminster, which was built in 1893, was started by Westminster Presbyterian Church, which wanted to help German and Polish immigrants acclimate to American culture, while teaching them important skills.
It later shifted by the late 1950s and early 1960s to focus on African Americans moving into the area.
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