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Community Corner

Alpha House of Tampa Gets a Makeover

Local designers team up to remodel the South Tampa residential maternity program that serves homeless, expectant mothers and parenting teens.

After 20-year-old Alison Alford got pregnant four months ago, her mother kicked her out of the house.

“She doesn’t like my fiance,” Alford said while sitting on a couch at the Alpha House of Tampa, a non-profit organization that serves pregnant teens in foster care and homeless parenting or expectant women by providing them with safe housing, counseling, education, vocational training and parenting skills.

“The program is an introduction to real life,” said Alpha House consultant Scott Taylor.

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Soon, Alford and the about twenty women currently living at the South Tampa’s maternity residence will get a newly renovated room, too.

A Room of Her Own is a nearly $175,000 undergoing project that aims to redesign the housing facility at 208 S Tampania Ave.

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The small dorm-like rooms have not been substantially revamped since the residence was built in 1988.

The makeover project was undertaken by a group of local designers and sponsors who each adopted a room to create a space that feels like home and promotes healing and growth.

“We want to offer hope that there are nicer things in the world,” said Cynthia Keenan, program co-chair and owner of CK Designs.

Keenan selected a pistachio green for the walls of the room she finished redecorating Thursday in the facility’s east wing, which houses the young women in foster care. White butterflies are painted on one of the green walls as this graceful flying insect is the symbol of the Alpha House.

“We looked at the age group and wanted (the room) to be bright and inspiring,” said Keenan.

All other bedrooms, including the ones in the west wing that hosts the adult women, will be finished in two weeks.

But Keenan said that there are still three bedrooms up for adoption. If you would like to get involved with the project, visit A Room of Her Own.

“There is not a fixed budget,” she said, “it’s up to your imagination.”

What about Alford’s plans?

Her thirty-year-old fiance will soon get his own place and the couple will get married in July 2012. After the baby is born, Alford hopes to go back to college and study to be a vet assistant or have a singing career. For now, she awaits impatiently for next week, when she will discover if her baby will be a boy or a girl.

“I hope it’s a girl, because girls rule,” she said. 

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