Amid growing service demands, a nonprofit dedicated to children and families in the Florida Keys is moving from its current Upper Keys location to a larger building across the street.
Wesley House Family Services, located inside the First Horizon building at MM 99.4 in Key Largo, recently acquired the Key Largo Lions Club facility at 5 Homestead Ave. Wesley House CEO Aleida Jacobo said the building wasn’t on the market as she began the search for a bigger space with American Caribbean Broker Joy Martin and Realtor Lorie Leal.
There was word, however, that the club would consider selling the building. Leal said it was the perfect location to fit Wesley House’s needs.
“It was good timing,” Leal said. “When Wesley House inquired about looking for a bigger space, we happened to come across the information that the Lions Club would consider selling.”
Programs for expectant families and newborns are increasing in the Upper Keys, as well as stable family intervention/prevention services to families at risk of abuse and neglect. Jacobo said the Healthy Families Program provides young families with tools to promote child health and development, provide nurturing homes and ensure medical and social needs of families are met. A free, voluntary program, it served 87 families and 144 children during the 2020-21 year.
Needs for foster services also remain high. Jacobo said Wesley House cares for children who are either abandoned or neglected. While children are in foster care, Wesley House provides Independent Living courses in two stages, one for ages 13 through 15 and a second for ages 16 through 17.
A crazy housing market is bringing some staff hiring challenges in Key West, Jacobo said. With a majority of the staff members living in the Upper Keys or the mainland, Wesley House began to outgrow their current Key Largo office location.
“We find most of our staff living in the Key Largo or Homestead area, and we’re also using the Upper Keys office as a base to help with the Key West operation,” she said.
Despite the challenges, Jacobo said Wesley House is maintaining a strong presence in the Lower Keys, with its office located at 1304 Truman Ave. in Key West. In addition, the Inez Martin Child Development Center, located on Varela Street in Key West, focuses on developing and enhancing age-appropriate skills for toddlers to 5-year-old children.
Jacobo said she believes their new home in Key Largo will provide a “strong hub” for family and children’s services with the new CHI facility two doors down.
“I’d say we’re aiming for 12-18 months before we get in there. Right now it’s a blank canvas,” Jacobo said. “We want to build it out not only for office space, but we want to do parenting skills classes there, set up a little home to really teach parents how to cook and interact with kids.”
Wesley House programs are made possible through various funding sources and donors. They include Florida Department of Children and Families, Citrus Family Care Network, Ounce of Prevention Healthy Families Florida and Early Learning Coalition of Miami-Dade/Monroe to name a few. Jacobo said that $17 million in state funding for services in Broward, Miami-Dade and Monroe counties wasn’t cut as originally designated earlier in the year.
“We were relieved that the cut did not go through. That would have been very painful and devastating for our services,” she said.
