Fortitude Community Outreach expands efforts to support Kankakee’s homeless population

Fortitude Community Outreach has made great strides in the past year in being the voice, advocate and front-line provider for people experiencing homelessness in Kankakee County.

At times the obstacles the agency must overcome to foster and complete its mission are insurmountable on the face, but Fortitude perseveres. It provides services that are desperately needed in greater Kankakee.

“I’m not going to say the only way, but for many of the people we serve, the only way that they’re going to get in permanent housing is being surrounded by a team of people that connect them and assist them to get there,” said Dawn Broers, executive director of Fortitude.

The agency has made some remarkable headway in 2024, and the short- and long-term goals remain attainable for the 12-person staff. Fortitude is slowly but surely working to turn its new home at 150 S. Evergreen Ave. into a complete agency for people without housing.

For its achievements this past year, Fortitude Community Outreach is presented with the 2025 Progress Award for Innovator in Social Services.

“Our short-term goal is to have all of our services under one roof,” Broers said. “As long as we have existed, which has been since 2017, so eight years, we have been under other people’s roofs or in a converted coach bus.

“We’re very proud of our resiliency and our ability to problem solve and think out of the box and figure out creative ways to provide that needed shelter in Kankakee, but we are very, very ready to be completely self-sufficient and stable.”

Fortitude took ownership of its location at 150 S. Evergreen Ave. in Kankakee in February 2024. It’s a two-story building with approximately 10,000 square feet. The structure most recently served as a church. Before that, it was a medical office building.

Fortitude has a three-phase plan for the building and has already completed Phase 1.

“Phase 1 was to get our business license so we could have our offices here,” Broers said. “So, yes, we achieved that.”

That has allowed Fortitude to move its offices into the second floor where it can work on case management. That phase also included installing the required fire system, which was achieved through a $25,000 ARPA grant from the city of Kankakee.

Fortitude is now focusing on Phase 2 improvements to the building which will require approximately $150,000 in funds it is currently trying to raise. That will allow evening services to be provided at the location, which are now done at the Salvation Army down the street.

Evening services include providing meals, showers and laundry services to people without housing.

“We’re over there at 5:30 p.m. and ending at 8:30 p.m.,” said Willeum Boykin, director of shelter services for Fortitude.

Also during that time, Boykin said staffers can work with the “guests” on case management.

“Our goal is to help them get into permanent housing, so we basically interview each client and each guest,” he said. “We follow up with them each week on their progress to achieving permanent housing. Give them recommendations.”

Finding affordable housing is a big issue in Kankakee County, Broers said.

Boykin said Fortitude is working with nine to 15 individuals daily during the evening services. Once those services are complete, people stay in the Night Fort RV bus purchased and put into service on Nov. 1, 2023.

Broers said the Night Fort isn’t a permanent solution. It can house up to 19 people.

“I would say it has been a successful stop-gap measure,” she said. “It is not a long-term sustainable program. It is high maintenance, and there’s high costs of fuel.”

Focusing on Phase 2

Fortitude Community Outreach is preparing to start Phase 2 within a few weeks. That includes building bathroom and shower facilities on the first floor and a commercial kitchen.

“We’ll have one completely ADA-accessible shower, and then one tub and shower, which will be perfect for children,” Broers said. “And then a separate half-bath, so that there’s always a toilet available. They’re putting in laundry facilities.”

The Kankakee County Health Department requires a full commercial kitchen for any shelter that’s not connected to a church. That kitchen has added significant costs to the project.

“We have to have a full hood ventilation system, fire suppression, all the good stuff, which will end up being good in the end,” Broers said.

Fortitude is embarking on a fundraising campaign for hopefully a good portion of the costs, while the remainder will be borrowed from a bank. Fortitude has an agreement with Peoples Bank of Kankakee County for the loan.

Before Fortitude purchased the building, it had raised close to $400,000. It spent $235,000 for the building on Evergreen after paying $175,000 on the Night Fort bus. It has also incurred costs on the electrical and plumbing as well as the necessary permits for the new building. It now has approximately $85,000.

“We hope that we can take out as small of a loan as possible,” Broers said. “We have never had debt. ... We have to, and we’re starting the process. If God comes through and we don’t need it, then fantastic. At least the process will be started.”

Phase 3

What Fortitude envisions as a complete shelter for people without housing will be part of Phase 3. It’s still months away, but Fortitude has the space on its second floor to offer housing.

There will be some hurdles to clear, not only financially, to get that done. It will need a special use permit from the city of Kankakee before the area on the second floor, which has been completely gutted, to turn into an area for housing.

“We’ll be beginning conversations about Phase 3 very soon,” Broers said. “... We’re hoping to have that permit by the end of the year.”

Fortitude is hoping once the renovation is complete, the area could house up to 25 people.

“It really depends on what the fire code allows, capacity-wise,” Broers said.

Fortitude will continue its quest to be self-sufficient and have a stable presence in Kankakee County.

“We can be dependent on and available anytime the hospital needs us,” Broers said. “The police need us, and we can only do that if we’re under one roof with more beds. If we’re under one roof, we have that flexibility to allow the police to bring somebody in the middle of the night, or take somebody who’s been treated at the hospital but gets released at 11 p.m. and have no place to stay.”

Long term, Fortitude wants to advocate for and improve the rights of the county’s homeless population.

“We’re involved in state and national advocacy organizations that are, as you can imagine, very ramped up right now, and so we are doing whatever we can to get involved with those advocacy activities,” she said.

Homeless by the numbers

Fortitude has an Excel spreadsheet with the name and information of every homeless person in the county.

“So through that [spreadsheet] and street outreach and different outreach efforts, we’re able to help people go from a state of homelessness, maybe living in their car, and some of the better success stories would include people who are now in leadership positions,“ Boykin said. ”[They’re] leading their own organization that helps the homeless."

That involves a peer advisory group among other social service agencies, including the Supportive Housing Providers Association.

“People who were previously homeless are able to be trained as leaders in that arena,” Boykin said. “That’s pretty cool, and it is separate from Fortitude, but it’s something we’re involved with.”

In January, Fortitude did its count of homeless people in the county. It found that 25 people were spending the night in areas unfit for human habitation. Another 28 individuals were sheltered by an agency other than Gift of God and The Salvation Army, which didn’t report their data.

Broers said some agencies have paused their programs, like hotel vouchers, because of the current and upcoming cuts to federal departments like HUD and the Department of Human Services.

“Everybody is terrified,” Broers said.

Broers said the above numbers of homeless people were just the ones they could find, but the actual amount is likely much more.

“There’s probably well over 100 living in their cars alone,” she said.

For more information, visit fortitudecommunityoutreach.org.