On Thursday, November 19, Renewal House hosted a groundbreaking ceremony for a new $7.5 million facility. Among attendees was Nashville Mayor John Cooper, Senator Brenda Gilmore, Councilwoman Kyonzté Toombs, THDA chief programs officer Don Watt, and Renewal House CEO Pamela Sessions.
The three-story, 30,962-square-foot building will double Renewal House’s capacity of service for women with substance use disorders and their children. A total of 34 family residential program apartments, up from the current 17, as well as treatment space and staff offices will be housed in the facility.
“We are so excited to get construction of our new building underway,” said Sessions. “It will fulfill a critical need for expansion to a population that has limited resources available for treatment and recovery support.”
“It’s a privilege to be here at renewal house,” said Mayor Cooper, who applauded the organizations efforts. “Renewal House’s model of providing wholistic treatment to families is both data driven, and compassion driven. Both science and empathy are embodied in your work. This expansion is needed now more than ever.”
Currently, Renewal House serves more than 450 women, children and other family members a year through all of its programs combined; however, at any given time the agency has 60 or more women on its family residential program waiting list. After the new facility is completed, the family residential program will have the capacity to serve twice as many families, increasing from 50 to 100 a year.
Many organizations and individuals are contributing to the development of the project. Art Rebrovick and Jo Ella McClellan are serving as co-chairs of the Renewal House capital campaign to raise funds for the new facility. Barnes Fund for Affordable Housing and Tennessee Housing Development Agency (THDA) are among the major funders for the project.
Renewal House is located at 3410 Clarksville Pike, Nashville, TN. Currently the agency operates out of apartment buildings originally constructed in the 1960s. The building site for the new facility is undeveloped land within the agency’s 14-acre campus. Construction will be completed in December 2021.
Founded in 1996, Renewal House is Middle Tennessee’s only provider of long-term specialized treatment for mothers and their children. In addition to its family residential program, Renewal House provides licensed intensive outpatient treatment for women of low income, affordable rental housing for women in recovery and their children, a satellite outpatient program partnership with Vanderbilt University Medical Center and a consultation partnership with the Nashville, Davidson County offices of the Tennessee Department of Children’s Services.
