CABOT — Naomi Bratton said there’s a homeless problem in the Cabot area, and she wants to do something about it.
Bratton is president of the board for HELP, the Housing Education and Life-Skills Program, which is based in Cabot. She, along with other like-minded people in the area, formed the board to help start the program.
“There were quite a few of us who knew there was a problem,” Bratton said. “There was a bigger problem looming. We were starting to see homeless people in the Cabot area. I’m not talking about the ones who are professional sign holders that don’t want a meal. They want cash.”
Bratton said the idea for HELP was conceived in June 2017, and the planning started. The board of HELP consists of Alesha Harry, Kimberly Buchberger, Dorothy Putt, Allen Miller, Patty Riggs, Michelle Spenser, Tammy Tompkins and Robert Hosea.
Bratton said there have been people sleeping behind buildings in Cabot, in places that aren’t checked after dark.
“They can pitch a tent or have a sleeping bag,” she said. “A lot of times, you’ll find that there is an elderly grandmother who has her granddaughter and multiple other babies there, living in a tiny one-room efficiency apartment. Those are people who are living on top of one another or sleeping double. Those people are technically homeless or at risk of homelessness.”
Bratton also said the homeless in the area include veterans.
“There is nothing in Lonoke County for the homeless,” Bratton said. “White County has a program. There’s a small place in Searcy. It’s relatively small compared to what we’re doing.”
Bratton said she’s been in contact with the Cabot City Council, as well as Cabot Mayor Bill Cypert, on the organization’s plans.
“What they are trying to do is really emerging and developing,” Cypert said. “What the end result is, I’m still not clear on exactly what the major points of the program will be. We’re watching it. There is a need there that needs to be supported. We would definitely support the continuing development of the program, where they are going and what they are going to do.
“If we can provide support at this juncture, we certainly want to do so.”
“It all came about because people were hurting, and the problem is getting worse,” Bratton said. “The veterans have been a known entity for a long time, but it’s progressively getting worse.”
Bratton said HELP is being patterned after the Our House Shelter in Little Rock.
“They started in the late 1980s, and they have all kinds of programs,” she said.
To qualify for HELP, the first thing a person has to do is pass a drug test.
“It’s not a halfway house,” Bratton said. “We will help them get a full-time job. For them to stay with us, they have to have a full-time job. We’ll help them find day care. We’ll set them up with the Cabot School District.
“It will truly be a transitional living facility. They have to open a checking account. They have to learn to balance a budget for a family. They’ll be doing parenting classes as well.”
Bratton said that for those who live in HELP’s facility and do not have a high school diploma, they will be assisted by Goodwill Industries in an attempt to receive their general equivalency degree.
“Every single thing that we do and the clients in our program do gets them one step closer to no longer living off the system but actually being a contributing member of society,” Bratton said. “That’s what we want to be able to do.”
“We’re talking about our program being three to four months long. That way, they can save that first month’s rent. They can save for their deposit; they can save for their utility deposits. Let’s face it. That’s expensive, trying to move into a new apartment or home. All that takes a lot of money.”
Since HELP is still in the planning stages, the group is trying to get its 501 (c)(3) nonprofit status in order to apply for grants through Housing and Urban Development. The deadline to apply is Sept. 15.
Bratton said HELP will apply for Emergency Service Grants.
“If you don’t have that nonprofit status, you can’t get any funding,” she said.
In an attempt to help get nonprofit status, HELP held a fundraiser, Chocolate HELPs, at the Cabot National Guard Armory on March 12.
The group raised close to $3,000 with the event.
“We put it together in about three weeks,” Bratton said. “We had some great helpers. We had Boy Scout Troop 1776. They helped us set up tables and chairs. They were great.”
Bratton said businesses set up booths, paying $100 per space.
“A lot of places will not just give you money,” she said. “They will come and do an event and give you money for the booth.”
Admission for the event was $5.
“We’d have people pay their $5 to get in and leave with a huge plate of different foods,” Bratton said. “They’d stop and pay an extra $5 and say it was worth much more than this.”
Chocolate HELPs was a way to get the message out about HELP.
Bratton said she hopes the actual physical buildings for people to stay in will be ready either at the end of this year or the beginning of 2019.
“When [HUD] actually gives out that funding — and I think we will quality for just about anything we ask for — then we actually have to get a building under contract,” she said.
Bratton said she knows of several buildings in Cabot that can be modified for the living shelter.
“I already have a couple of buildings picked out,” she said. “The owner knows it. We don’t have any money to give them.”
Bratton said right now is the time to get the word out about the homeless problem and HELP.
“A lot of it is word of mouth,” she said. “We just want to get the message out that Cabot has a problem, and there are some people who do not choose to see that there is an issue,” she said. “The thing is that there is. It doesn’t make us less of a community because we have a problem. What makes us less of a community is if we don’t identify the problem.”
For more information on HELP, search for Housing, Education & Life-skills Program on Facebook.
Staff writer Mark Buffalo can be reached at (501) 399-3676 or mbuffalo@arkansasonline.com.