NONPROFIT by KELSEY CIPOLLA
Forty Years of Serving Kansas City. This year marks reStart Inc.’s 40th anniversary helping the homeless in Kansas City. But what started in a church as a shelter for single men has evolved over time as the number of people experiencing homelessness has grown and demographics have changed, says reStart President Stephanie Boyer. “reStart has been an agency that’s shifted to meet the needs of those different populations over the years,” she said. “It expanded to today to provide services for single adults, men, and women; families; unaccompanied youth; transition-age youth; veterans; LGBTQ individuals – really, everyone.”
A CONTINUUM OF SERVICES reStart currently offers emergency shelter for single adults and a dedicated shelter program for families, both of which are available for up to several months to ease stress, introduce stability, and help individuals enter permanent housing. It provides rental and utility assistance, legal services, child care, and more, to veterans and their families. And the organization also offers the metro’s only emergency youth shelter for those ages 12 to17 and transitional living program for youth ages 16 to 21 who have no safe home to return to. “Our work really happens now over an entire continuum,”
WINTER 2021 | TODAY KANSAS CITY | 49
