The Sanctuary is a community center and transitional living space that aims to reduce drug addiction, recidivism and homelessness by meeting people in their most vulnerable states.
To put that belief into action, she created Za'Kiyah House, a network of safe havens which provide temporary supportive sober living environments as well as counseling and other strengths-based services to support the lifestyle choices necessary to maintain permanent housing.
Heliotrope first collaborated with Za'Kiyah House in 2021 to support in the creation of Donnelle's Safe Haven, a home for women returning from incarceration. The endeavor was such a success that we decided to keep it going by donating the former Braddock Tiles church to Za'Kiyah House, and helping them transform it into The Sanctuary.
We at Heliotrope know first hand that the creative process can bring people together in times of crisis and help us find a better way through problems that seem unsolvable. The U.S. is in the midst of a crisis caused by our lack of understanding of the way trauma impacts human lives. Traumatized people who act out unhealed destructive patterns may end up in the prison system, addicted to drugs, or homeless and living on the street. Traditional systems are designed to punish people who are acting out in pain, but this only perpetuates the problem, and indeed makes our communities less safe.
Ronna Davis Moore, founder of Za'Kiyah House, believes that the capacity for healing is present inside each person, and that it is up to us to create the circumstances which will allow healing and transformation to happen.
THE SANCTUARY
The Sanctuary will become apartments, a social hall and a sanctuary space serving the community of North Braddock, PA. It will address the housing discrimination faced by people with criminal records and strengthen family bonds by providing apartments where families can stay together, rather than risk having children lost to the foster care system.
While this work is local to one place, with its trauma informed model and restorative-justice based philosophy, The Sanctuary is creating a beacon that many other communities can steer by as we ask ourselves how we reckon with our notions of justice, and how we will learn to heal the intergenerational cycles of trauma that so often lead to devastating outcomes such as homelessness and incarceration.
With the help of all our Kickstarter backers, the Kindle Foundation, the Scintilla Foundation and generous donors, we have been able to give THE SANCTUARY a new roof and new windows. This phase includes restoration of the social hall’s large stained glass window featuring a custom design by Swoon and hand crafted by local artists who are also members of the Za'Kiyah House community. This collaborative endeavor is the result of over a decade of community based arts and justice work. It is built on many many relationships and made possible by hundreds of people who have donated resources or lent a hand because they believe in Ronna’s vision, and want to support a new way forward.