Part of our initiative on federal, state, and local executive branch performance in cities and towns across the U.S.  Contributed by Jane Johnston of the Newburgh Advocate.

Newburgh Ministry receives HHAC grant

Newburgh, NY — September 25, 2008 — Newburgh Ministry, a community center/hospitality house, has received a $1.8 million grant from the Homeless Housing Assistance Corporation, an agency of the state of New York.  The grant will be used for capital improvement, rehabilitating their building at and making it ADA compliant.

In 2005, Newburgh Ministry began operating an all night drop-in shelter, but without cots or beds.  Guests have had to sleep on chairs or the floor.  The HHAC grant will provide 19 beds for men and women.
The Newburgh Ministry was founded in 1983 by five women from different religious orders.  They purchased the present location at 9 Johnston Street in 1990.

Thanks to the HHAC grant, the shelter will operate 365 days a year, according to Jim McElhinney, the Ministry’s coordinator.  "The state wants to make sure that we do that, since so much of the funding is for capital improvement – they will require that from us.  They’re making sure their investment is worth it.

"One of the things you learn doing this is that there are a lot of hoops to jump through, and the hoops can be sort of annoying when you’re jumping through them, but you realize that as a taxpayer, they’re there because, if not, somebody would be walking off with $1.8M.  And I’m sure the reason that they do it is because it has happened in the past.  So that’s heartening in a way, that the state is being a good guardian."

The Ministry hopes to begin construction in the spring of 2009.

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