Overall Site Planning

Charles Street Site Plan

In 2006 a group of local philanthropists partnered with Ray of Hope in an effort to bring youth residential addiction services to our community. As part of their effort they acquired two pieces of property, 432 Charles St. East and 851 King St. East in Kitchener and donated it to Ray of Hope. Currently we operate our Transitional Educational program out of the renovated facility on King St. while we continue to explore our options for the larger Charles St. piece. The original vision was to build a 40-Bed Residential Youth Addiction Treatment Centre on the site, and although that has not happened yet, our goal is to still build an addiction centre that meets the needs of the youth of our community and their families. With the development of our Youth Addiction Services program, it is likely that this facility will eventually incorporate not only residential services, but also will include a variety of community based programs that reflect the real needs of youth and families.

Since 2006 Ray of Hope has also been exploring ways that the site could be used to provide other services to the community as well. We have always envisioned the property as a gift to the KW community and not just to Ray of Hope, so that has been in the background of our planning and a major reason for our looking to work interdependently with other community groups on the site.

Ray of Hope Educational Centre

At present we are making use of the one existing building at 851 King St. E. to operate our transitional educational program for up to 8 students. This former service station has been renovated to create a unique classroom arrangement.

Our long range plans for the site are being reviewed in light of our purchase and planned development of the new Ray of Hope Community Centre at 659 King St. E. Our plans for development of the Youth Addictions Services for the near term are focused on more community based programming and our current facilities will accommodate this level of planned service. It is only when we get the mandate and the funding to provide additional residential beds for females that more space will be required.

Community Housing Project

With the acquisition of 659 King St. E. we have put our plans for a community housing project on hold. We have released the Region of Waterloo from their commitment to help fund our previous project plan and redirect the money to other community projects that will come on stream quicker. We are still committed to working towards provision of affordable housing that will meet the needs of the people we serve and expect to work with the Region in the future when those plans become more definite.