AYA residents show off peer support specialist training certificates in 2024. (Photo: AYA House)
AYA House, a nonprofit organization that provides transitional housing and supportive services for people recovering from substance dependence or transitioning from incarceration, will open its first location in Rowan County on Friday, Jan. 16.
The program will serve adult men transitioning from jail or prison in Vaya Health’s easternmost counties, which include Alamance, Caswell, Chatham, Franklin, Granville, Person, Rockingham, Rowan, Stokes and Vance.
Vaya Health provides and manages health services for people with mental health, substance use and intellectual/developmental disabilities. It partnered with AYA House to provide reentry employment services in the counties it serves after the NC Department of Health and Human Services awarded it $1.5 million from a federal Expanding Supports for Justice Involved Adults-Community Based Initiatives grant.
Dennis Brown, executive director of AYA House, says programs like this are essential to setting previously incarcerated people on the right path after they return home. Brown, who was previously incarcerated, said housing is a huge barrier for people who are released from prison.
“A lot of us that got caught up in the justice system, we have lost family, we have lost the connection to a lot of families, and some of us do not want to go back to our own communities,” Brown said. “Providing these kind of services and not just providing a bed or a home, but providing service along with it, a support team to go along with it, makes a big difference.”
Brown said the Rowan County program will start with five clients, and then “we’ll go from there.” Two houses will be used for the program, Brown said. One will serve as a residence for clients and the other as an “employment lab,” he said.
AYA House already operates six diversion and reentry locations in neighboring Cabarrus County. It provides wraparound support and services, including employment and education services designed to build long-term stability and independence.
In Cabarrus, Brown said AYA House has partnered with Rowan-Cabarrus Community College, which provides scholarships for clients to earn certification in logistics, manufacturing, welding and other skilled professions.
“After that, we help them get into a career, not just a job, but a career,” Brown said. “By doing that, it sets them on a different path to make a livable wage, and you can see ahead of you and not just look down on the ground like we usually do.”
Kelly Crosbie, director of the state Division of Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities and Substance Use Disorders, is scheduled to attend the grand opening of AYA House in Rowan County at 2205 Harkey Ave., Kannapolis.
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