Homeless in RI: Daily overnight Warming Center opens TODAY at MLK Center in Newport

Photo: Taken fall, 2022, at Newport Visitors Center

Beginning TODAY, Tuesday, January 16th, an overnight warming center will be available nightly at the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Center. The Warming Center is a multi-agency collaboration.

Formalizing the Martin Luther King Community Center’s efforts at providing warming opportunities for the community, St. John’s Church in Newport has been secured and prepared. “For two months, we’ve been proud to host the overnight warming center, when needed. I was part of a community safety meeting led by Newport Fire Chief Harp Donnelly and Middletown Fire Chief Jim Peplau about how to help people who were sleeping in the open every night. I decided that it was something we needed to do as a congregation,” said Rev. Kevin Beasley, Rector of St. John’s. “Offering the church’s space directly ties to our mission of what Christ taught us to do.“

The new warming center has been in the planning stages for months. It is a collaboration between the MLK Community Center, Newport Mental Health, RI Coalition to End Homelessness, CODAC along with the Fire Departments of the City of Newport and the Town of Middletown. Funding from the State of Rhode Island Department of Housing is underwriting the project, with the City of Newport providing fiduciary management.

The MLK Community Center is providing the space for the Warming Center at no charge. The Center is staffed by a collaboration of Newport Mental Health and CODAC mental health and substance abuse disorder professionals.

The warming center is not only for Newport and Middletown residents. Anyone in need of a warm place to sleep is welcome to use the Center.

The Overnight Warming Center at the MLK Community Center will be open seven nights a week from 7:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m, from January 16th through March 1st. After March 1st, the Overnight Warming Center will open as needed. Access to the Warming Center is at the Edward Street door of the MLK Center.

“Fr. Kevin and his congregation are community heroes. By offering the church hall until the MLK could host the program, St. John’s ensured people without a place to sleep weren’t outside in the cold,” said Heather Hole Strout, Executive Director of the MLK Community Center. “As we reopen fully after a year of construction, offering space for the warming center is exactly the kind of community resource we envisioned when we began our renovation.”
“We are very proud to be part of this collaboration. This goes to show what can be accomplished when partners sit down and get creative about solutions. Knowing there’s a place for people to sleep means we can all sleep a bit better this winter.”

Founded in 1922 and renamed after Dr. King in 1968, the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Center
nourishes, educates, and supports Newport County, Rhode Island residents to improve their economic,
social, and physical well-being. Celebrating 100 years of service in 2022, the MLK Community Center is
an independent non-profit promoting health, fighting hunger, supporting families, educating kids, and
engaging seniors. Last year, the MLK helped 6,232 people, the most in its history.