Community Partnership of Southeast Missouri cut multiple ribbons Friday to celebrate the grand opening of its new location at 40 S. Sprigg St. in Cape Girardeau — in the renovated old Cape Girardeau police station.
An open house with tours was held from 8 a.m. to noon. Most visitors began arriving after 8:30, with a large crowd on hand for the 11:30 a.m. ribbon-cutting ceremony. Executive Director Melissa Stickel said she was very pleased with the turnout.
A lunch of grilled hot dogs, hamburgers, chips and sodas was available in the Jailhouse Cafe, constructed where the former jail cells once held prisoners.
A few jail cells have been kept next to the cafe, but they have been remodeled to use as small, intimate meeting rooms called “micro-cells” where someone can meet with a client. The desks are made from old prison beds; there are office chairs, electric outlets and data ports.
The cafe does not have a kitchen, but it can be used for serving snacks (bagels, donuts, etc.) for meetings and for restaurant training for those seeking work in that field.
During the tours, visitors caught a glimpse of bright and spacious new offices for the various programs sponsored by Community Partnership.
Although the new facility is not a homeless shelter, it does provide services for homeless people. They can seek a few hours of shelter in “The Hub,” while getting a shower, washing their clothes and eating a hot meal (microwaves are available).
Community Partnership’s mission is to maximize resources to develop and deliver a wide range of services that improve the lives of individuals, children, families, and to build strong neighborhoods and communities. It serves as a fiscal agent for various community grants and programs. Its staff is very active with community-level organizations, serving as liaisons between many groups. Services are offered to help people get back on their feet and become self-sufficient.
Some of the programs enjoying their new offices are:
• Every Day Dad (EDD), which empowers low-income noncustodial fathers to strengthen their families with core services. Community resources, workshops and mentoring are available.
• Missouri Mentoring Partnership (MMP) helps young mothers and fathers up to age 26 who are pregnant or parenting, offering parenting skills, infant health information and other services.
• THRIVE seeks to protect youth from high-risk behaviors and help them become productive, responsible adults.
• SkillUP helps people on food stamps (aged 16-59) to get better jobs by developing skills through training and through employer connections.
• Community Housing Assistance helps residents in Cape, Bollinger and Perry counties to get affordable, safe, and sanitary housing.
• EDGE (Empowering Dads to Gain Employment) helps fathers (and mothers) with child support cases.
These are just some of the programs CPSEMO offers. Community Partnership also works with 30 outside charities.
For more information, call 573-651-3747 or email con-tactus@cpsemo.org.
