Our House

After 20 years in the life-changing business, Our House has changed itself. The nonprofit organization, which is much more than a homeless shelter, has dramatically expanded its services for children.

“We recognized that our greatest growth was in our youth population, that we saw so many more children coming to us,” Executive Director Georgia Mjartan said.

Our House has always given homeless adults and families a place to stay and helped the adults find full-time permanent employment. Over the years it has added job training to its list of adult services.

But one of the complications of homelessness, Mjartan said, is that the children may need to enroll in after-school care or day care at any time during the year, not just during set enrollment periods. On any given day, 30 to 40 children live at Our House, which operates a day-care center for babies as young as 6 weeks and a full preschool program. Last summer, with funding from the city of Little Rock and the Pulaski County Quorum Court, the number blossomed to 60 to 70 with the addition of “Our House Our Club,” a summer and after-school program for homeless children ages 6 to 18. Each child was given a digital camera and taught how to keep an online blog about their lives. They got a tour of the Governor’s Mansion from First Lady Ginger Beebe, receiving a diploma at the end of the summer. “They had a really positive experience rather than ‘That was the summer I was homeless,’” Mjartan said.

Mitigating the impact of homelessness on children is vitally important, she said, because “by the time homeless children are 8, one in three has a major mental disorder.” Meanwhile, three-quarters of Our House’s adult clients who come in without jobs are employed when they leave, and most leave with $4,000 to $5,000 in savings.

“We do not want to see repeat customers,” Mjartan said. “We want them to make it on their own, and by and large they do.”