photo by: Austin Hornbostel/Journal-World

New signage now adorns the outside of the building at 944 Kentucky St., the site of the agency formerly known as the Drop In and Rest Center. The agency recently rebranded and is now known as the Homeless Resource Center.

Lawrence’s Drop In and Rest Center for the homeless is getting a rebrand.

It’s been five years since the agency commonly known as the DARE Center began operating at 944 Kentucky St. But as of Thursday, the sign outside the building’s front door lists a new name: the Homeless Resource Center.

Executive Director Brett Hartford told the Journal-World that the change is part of a larger goal to generate more name recognition and financial support while staying true to the agency’s mission — providing immediate critical needs and fostering long-term communitywide solutions for individuals experiencing homelessness.

Since it was founded by former Lawrence Community Shelter director Loring Henderson, the DARE Center has operated as a daytime drop-in center offering basic services to people experiencing homelessness or at risk of homelessness. That includes access to shower and laundry facilities, serving as an address for mail services, and distributing items like tents, sleeping bags, tarps and backpacks. The agency has also sought to connect guests to other community resources.

The new name also comes with a new tagline — “Dare to hope” — in a nod to those roots.

All of those services are still there, but a new name is intended to make the Homeless Resource Center more common knowledge around Lawrence. Hartford said it’s been about two months since he brought up the idea of a name change to the agency’s advisory board, which subsequently gave its approval, but he’d been considering the merits of a refresh for longer.

Hartford became the director at the DARE Center in late 2023, and soon after began encountering people who hadn’t heard of the agency. Some even confused it with the school-based Drug Abuse Resistance Education program, thanks to its similar acronym.

“No one knew about this place at all,” Hartford told the Journal-World.

Hartford said that made the idea of a rebrand seem like a good one. He said it’s helpful for potential donors to know an agency’s identity when fundraising, and the shift to the Homeless Resource Center title seemed to fit the bill. Hartford noted that it’s also a title that avoids giving the impression that the agency is simply a place for people to come and sit idly.

Hartford said he felt that the old name didn’t necessarily reflect the actions that were taking place for the guests who stopped by 944 Kentucky St. He said it’s true that they could — and still can — come inside for a moment of respite, but everyone who receives services from the Homeless Resource Center is also working actively to create better situations for themselves.

Hartford pointed to the Homeless Resource Center’s social media channels as a testament to its work beyond simply being a place to rest. On its Instagram page, for example, a recent post highlights an upcoming pop-up health clinic at First United Methodist Church, 946 Vermont St., on Tuesday from 7 to 9 a.m. facilitated by LMH Health and Heartland Community Health Center.

Highlighting events like that and helping people to make connections with other local agencies that can help is a key part of the work — especially since, as Hartford put it, “everyone is working through something.”

Another goal is to showcase the “beauty of the people we serve,” Hartford said. The Homeless Resource Center name change launched in conjunction with another event hosted by the agency targeted toward that goal. It recently started participating in Lawrence’s Final Fridays events and hosted an art show featuring works created by Homeless Resource Center clients.

All of that work will continue as the Homeless Resource Center simultaneously aims to achieve another goal — expanding both its building space and hours of operation.

As the Journal-World has reported, the agency has been operating out of an 800-square-foot space with limited weekday hours but is looking to access and renovate thousands more square feet of space throughout the entire building at 944 Kentucky St.

Hartford said finding the funding for a project on that scale is still a work in progress; from the latest estimates, the Homeless Resource Center is looking to raise $300,000. Hartford said he’s currently engaged in conversations with the city about how to achieve that.

But it’ll take a significant influx of funding to close what’s already a wide gap. For reference, a funding summary for the agency provided to the Journal-World shows that the Homeless Resource Center received just $23,751 in donations and $8,854 in grant funds between January and April of this year.

Hartford said the Homeless Resource Center has taken one action recently to shore up its fundraising efforts by forming a fundraising committee of regular volunteers. They’ll be taking part in grassroots efforts like partnering with local businesses for campaigns that will see a portion of proceeds go to the agency.

That’s all part of a grassroots effort – “by the community and for the community,” Hartford said — to support the Homeless Resource Center. He said it’s an agency that really depends on the community’s continued support.

Beyond fundraising efforts, further programming efforts are underway at the Homeless Resource Center. One of them is a downtown trash pickup program Hartford said he plans on starting soon, aided by individuals who are completing community service hours at the agency. He said the group already participates in trash cleanup on the block around the Homeless Resource Center, but he’s also interested in expanding to the nearby downtown area.

Hartford called it a “dream scenario” to be able to partner with the city for some kind of employment program dedicated to similar work.