Renovated house could help rebuild lives

A series of coincidences brought together an untended Tulsa house and a program designed to help female felons get a second chance at life.

Now the volunteers who are renovating the house need a little help to push their project to completion.

Chloe Brown raised her four now-adult children in the house at 4040 N. Elgin Ave. She moved, and she planned to sell it someday.

Ten or 12 years passed, though, and the house became run-down and rickety without anyone to take care of it.

But Brown began to think that the house had a greater purpose.

Meanwhile, a nearby ministry was managing a program for former prisoners who wanted a new start.

The Fitting Back In program serves as many as ex-convicts in Oklahoma, with 120 in Tulsa.

Brown couldn't shake the sense that her old house had purpose, no matter how much work it needed.

Billon Constable feels the same way about the former inmates at Fitting Back In.

The prisoner rehabilitation program is run by World Won for Christ Family Life Ministries, where Constable is the executive director.

Fitting Back In teaches key skills, from resume writing to money management to drug rehabilitation.

"The things that we have, we take for granted," Constable said. "They don't have the education. . . . Some of them have been in prison for 30 years."

Constable constantly seeks housing for his clients. He said most of them are released from prison with no place to live beyond local homeless shelters.

Brown decided that her old house could fill that gap with space for six women who had been released from prison.

But the house needed fixing up, just like these women will.

It was at the airport in Dallas or San Francisco -- they can't remember which -- when Brown ran into Shannon Walker and her business partner, with whom she's co-developing Metro Lofts.

The upscale, modern lofts are high-dollar dwellings in the once-struggling neighborhood north of Cherry Street.

Brown took their business cards and got an idea.

If the pair restored the Cherry Street area with these lofts, why couldn't they rebuild a home meant for reforming women?

"Chloe needed help," Walker said. "She didn't know what to do, but she had a vision for this house."

The vision was Chloe's House. There, six women would live and learn life skills through the Fitting Back In program.

"We want to transform the lives of six women," Brown said.

That dream became practical when Walker made a list of all the house's needs. The list was long. The price wasn't cheap.

But Walker wasn't the only one Brown solicited for help.

At the helm is the Dustin Babcock Foundation, formed by Nedra Babcock in the name of a grandson who died at age 18 after mixing drugs and alcohol.

Brown also signed on Urban Angels, a volunteer group of Mathis Brothers' employees. Other organizations followed.

The house was outfitted with new central heat and air, drywall, wooden floors and a revamped kitchen -- all done for free or almost free by local contractors.

The house was scheduled for completion in August, but the flow of money and help slowed.

A few needs are holding up production, namely painting supplies. The volunteers are ready; they just need paint.

Toilets and lighting are needed, too. Everything from carpet to furniture and major appliances has been donated and awaits installation.

Brown is not deterred. They are too close.

"It's going to be awesome," she said. "When those women walk in, it's going to blow them away."

---