In 2015, Rapid City leaders created a community-supported initiative for solving complex social problems in effort to improve the quality of life for the city’s residents and build a more caring community. The cohort generated a wide-ranging response, from creating the Rapid City Police Department’s Quality of Life Unit to consolidating economic development efforts.
OneHeart grew from this collective approach, providing transitional housing and access to co-located wrap-around services including health care, addiction and mental health counseling, spiritual healing, life skills and job training. The program effectively and collectively helps community members without homes move into permanent housing and achieve better quality of life by eliminating barriers to success.
JLG was the architect for Rapid City’s OneHeart: A Place for Hope & Healing — a new recovery-oriented environment and transitional housing for people who are referred to the program. OneHeart includes a center where human services agencies can provide mental health counseling, life skills, job training, childcare and other support services.
Following a mentality of “expecting the best but prepared for the worst,” the project provides spaces that are easily adaptable in case of non-ideal behavior. Spatial decisions address deep-seeded trauma with the goal of elevating the human spirit. The JLG team met with each care provider with the goal of creating synergies for a secure, recovery-oriented process and space where guests feel welcomed with dignity.
