YOUR BUSINESS AUTHORITY
Springfield, MO
Good Samaritan Boys Ranch is adding a $1.6 million apartment and office complex to its Footsteps Transitional Living program.
At 424 E. Norton Road, along Interstate 44 in north Springfield, Morelock Builders & Associates Inc. broke ground in April and since has installed footings, said Kevin Killian, president and CEO of the nonprofit Good Samaritan.
The eight individual apartments will help kids who are in the custody of the state transition to independent living, he said. The new apartments are designed to house people before Footsteps helps them get their own apartments at various locations across the city in partnership with certain landlords.
“Some kids are really not quite ready to be completely cut loose into their own apartment,” Killian said, noting Footsteps staff at the upcoming office and adjacent, existing 20-bed group home would be on-site to help those living in the transitional apartments. “It really gives them a fighting chance when they first come out of care.”
Kids in the new apartments likely would stay for six to nine months before moving on, he said.
Designed by Marshall-Waters-Woody and Associates Inc., the project is slated to span around 10,000 square feet between the new apartments and office. Completion is expected in late 2019 or early 2020.
Through Footsteps, Good Samaritan helps children aging out of the foster care system learn vital life skills, such as interview skills and money management.
“We prepare the kids to be able to live on their own,” Killian said.
The site expansion comes about nine years after the 10,225-square-foot Footsteps group home was built at a cost of $1.4 million, according to Springfield Business Journal archives.
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