City Parks and Recreation Announces Partnership with Centerstone for Park Maintenance

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

May 25, 2017

For more information, please contact:

Paula McDevitt, Administrator, City of Bloomington Parks and Recreation Department, 812.349.3700 or mcdevitp@bloomington.in.gov

Bloomington, Ind. - The Board of Park Commissioners this week approved a formal partnership with Centerstone, located at 645 S. Rogers St. in Bloomington. Centerstone, one of the nation's largest not-for-profit providers of community-based behavioral health care, will supply a work crew to perform routine cleanup in four city parks.

Centerstone will hire three to five individuals to complete assigned custodial work in Seminary, Peoples, Building Trades, and Butler Parks. The crew will work under the on-site supervision of a trained Centerstone case worker. Centerstone will invoice the Parks and Recreation Department for the hourly rate paid to its staff who work in the program.

According to Parks and Recreation Department administrator Paula McDevitt, Centerstone has participated in conversations with the city's Downtown Outreach Group since early 2016. When the city's Safety, Civility and Justice Task Force recommended exploring employment opportunities for those experiencing homelessness in the city, the Parks and Recreation Department saw the possibility of a mutually beneficial partnership with Centerstone.

Mayor John Hamilton commented, "I applaud the partnership between Centerstone and our Parks and Recreation Department. This is one of several recommendations from our Downtown Safety, Civility and Justice Task Force's preliminary report we will implement. I spoke about this endeavor at a press conference at Peoples Park on Thursday, and I want to thank the Board of Park Commissioners for their vote to support this new program."

"The Parks and Recreation Department has a long history of establishing successful partnerships with a variety of service providers, and we feel Centerstone is an ideal fit for our Department's maintenance goals and challenges," McDevitt said. "We are in a position to provide people who both need jobs, and who use our parks, with work that will help keep those parks clean so everyone can enjoy visiting them."

The program is slated to operate seven days a week, from June through December. Crews will spend 20 hours per week performing routine custodial work, such as picking up litter and cleaning restroom facilities, at all four parks. Parks and Recreation staff will provide training, equipment, and general oversight to ensure the parks are maintained to the Department's high standards.

The program will be evaluated upon its conclusion for continuation, or possible expansion in the future.

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About Centerstone

Centerstone is one of the nation's largest not-for-profit providers of community-based behavioral health care, offering a full range of mental health services, substance abuse treatment, and intellectual and developmental disabilities services in Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, and Tennessee. In 2015, Centerstone served more than 100,000 individuals and families. Centerstone is delivering care that changes people's lives.