DATE: Saturday, October 25, 1997            TAG: 9710250378

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B7   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY LOUIS HANSEN, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: SUFFOLK                           LENGTH:   55 lines

WESTERN TIDEWATER AGENCY WINS GRANT TO BUY GROUP HOMES THE HOUSES, IN SUFFOLK, WILL BE RENOVATED FOR THE EIGHT RESIDENTS.

Western Tidewater Community Services Board has received a $473,600 federal grant to purchase and renovate two group homes in Suffolk for people with mental retardation.

The two homes, Jay's Place in the 1400 block of Blythewood Lane, and the Wilkins group home in the 400 block of Jackson Street, each will be earmarked for $236,800 for purchase and improvements, said agency executive director Vincent Doheny.

The grants were awarded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and Western Tidewater officials were notified on Thursday evening.

Western Tidewater won 40 percent of the grant funds given in the state.

The agency plans to purchase the properties, add bedrooms and office space to the structures, and make them handicapped accessible, Doheny said.

Darlene Rawls, supervisor of the two homes, said the improvements will boost the quality of living for the eight residents and brighten the neighborhood.

``It was an incredible amount of work,'' she said, but ``they're going to have much nicer homes.''

Added Doheny: ``They'll be in A-1 housing.''

The agency runs four group homes - three in Suffolk - for persons with mental retardation. In 1996, it offered services to 343 persons with mild, severe, or profound mental retardation.

Western Tidewater rents the two homes that will benefit from the grants, and four residents reside in each. At least one counselor is present when a client is at home.

Doheny said that the group system is socially preferable to institutional living and less expensive for the state.

``The self-esteem of the individuals is much better'' when they live in a group home, he said.

The annual cost of housing four persons with mental retardation in a group home is about $225,000, he said. At a large, state-run institution, the annual cost is approximately $100,000 per person.

The HUD grant is the latest in a series of attempts by the public agency to improve its services.

In 1993, it was given the title to the six-story Professional Building on South Main Street. But the persistently cash-starved agency could not find enough money to rehabilitate the structure and eventually gave it to the city.

Doheny said he expects planning and work on the group home renovations to begin next year.

With an $8.5 million budget, Western Tidewater Community Services Board serves families and individuals with problems of substance abuse, mental illness and retardation.

Through a variety of counseling programs and group homes, the agency serves approximately 3,000 patients in Suffolk, Isle of Wight, Franklin and Southampton.

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