Manna in the house: Fayetteville nonprofit to take reins, rebrand Day Resource Center

A new name for the Day Resource Center in the city that serves the homeless will coincide with the takeover of management by the Manna Dream Center on July 1.

Fayetteville Cares Day Resource Center off Eastern Boulevard will be the new name, says Tommy Cartwright, director at the Manna Dream Center. The name is patterned on Oak City Cares in Raleigh, he said. That facility has become a model for many similar operations.

More: Pitts: Fayetteville day center: 50 people a day through the doors; serves homeless

Along with the resource center brand will be a new logo, still under design, and a website with information on resource center services, as well as employment and volunteer opportunities, Cartwright said. All are scheduled to roll out the first of July, he said.

Serving lunch

Of course, the resource center, which was opened by the city in the summer of 2023, is about more than a brand. Around 50 people a day use the center to access primary healthcare services; support; veteran services; and coordinated entry, which helps homeless people move off the streets.

I believed from the start it had great potential and could be a key piece in the community’s approach to addressing our serious homelessness problem.

More: Pitts: Fayetteville day center for homeless opens. Two stories show promise and challenges

The Fayetteville City Council voted earlier this month for the Dream Center to take over daily operations. Cumberland HealthNET's contract as operator expires at the end of June.

Running the center is a uniquely challenging endeavor.

But I like the Dream Center’s chances. It is not new to this, having been founded in 2014, according to its website.

Dream Center staff serve lunch at the DRC from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., Monday through Friday.

“We will serve anywhere from 120 to 200 people,” Cartwright said.

Already doing the work

The Dream Center staff at Ray Avenue is already involved with resource center-type services.

“A lot of the services at the resource center — obviously, smaller in scope — but we are doing a lot. We have laundry services, portable shower units” and a food pantry, Cartwright said.

The Dream Center is affiliated with the large and very active community of Manna Church, which has several locations including its Cliffdale Road headquarters.

The point is — the church and the Dream Center are invested.

A heart for serving the unhoused

Cartwright believes the faith-based community can play an even larger role. He sees church folks as part of a team lift necessary to make the resource center work.

He said: “The key to success if we can have collaboration across the board, from the faith-based community, human services professionals, medical, behavior specialists. We can work together under one roof to address the challenges of homelessness and those who are at risk of becoming homeless.”

It so happens that in Fayetteville and Cumberland County, people of faith are the engine for several organizations that assist the unhoused, from the Salvation Army to Fayetteville Area Operation Inasmuch.

The Dream Center's involvement with the DRC represents a major partnership between the government and a faith-based nonprofit. But it is not a new concept and is covered under state law, which says such nonprofits and local governments can enter into contracts, “as long as those contracts do not violate the federal or state constitutions or other laws,” according to a paper by the UNC School of Government.

Connections

A goal of the Resource Center is to connect homeless people with resources they would need, from shelter to job training to the best way to get under a permanent roof.

Early on, the center employed a navigator, a person in charge of helping make those connections happen, but the position went unfilled after federal money to pay for it went away.

Cartwright said that in talking to the Oak City people, they said an essential position is “someone who works particularly in case management.”

“We’ll put a strong emphasis on having a case manager/coordinator.”

Another goal would be to train and vet case manager volunteers to work under that coordinator, he said.

“The homeless community is very unique,” he said, adding that not everybody has a heart to serve them. “Not everybody has a passion for it.”

He said an effort would be made to cast a wide net across a wider spectrum of the city and find those people.

“It’s an opportunity for us to collaborate and do something special in our city,” Cartwright said.

Opinion Editor Myron B. Pitts can be reached at mpitts@fayobserver.com or 910-486-3559.

This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: Manna Dream Center to take over Fayetteville Cares Day Resource Center