How a Uniontown cafe supports women in recovery
By Dylan Sullivan
Edited by Rebekkah Ranallo
The story of Julia House began a few years before it opened in April of 2017. As a matter of fact, it wasn’t even my idea. The seed was planted back in 2010 when I saw the conditions that some people in recovery were living in and I knew it could be done better. I knew men that were living in houses with their bedrooms in hallways, raw sewage dripping directly into kitchens and some residents using drugs and alcohol in the house. The conditions were less than hygienic (and that is being kind) way too overcrowded, theft was common, fights were routine and real recovery was hard to find. I am not going to say that these conditions are common in every sober living facility because I don’t know that to be true, but what I can say is that in my experience clean, safe AND affordable housing were not the norm.
A vision for 23 North Beeson
In 2013 I was on the board of directors for a small nonprofit based in Uniontown. We were looking for a new base of operations and we came across the property at 23 N Besson boulevard. It was a 100-year-old, 3 story, vacant building. The entire board toured the space and voted to pass on it and the property remained vacant and there was not one more thought of it.
Two years passed and I found myself on yet another board of directors that just so happened to be in the market for a new, permanent home. I remembered the 23 North Beeson property. I suggested that the board take a tour and that’s when the gears started to turn. Once again it looked like the property had finally found its new owners. It was short-lived, though. The membership decided not to exercise the option at the end of the year, and they moved to a new location. The property was about to be vacant, again.
By this time, I was fully, unintentionally invested in 23 N Beeson. I had multiple roles as property manager, chairman of the board, and a dues-paying member. I also had a full-time job and I was in college part-time pursuing a degree in IT. Being a commercial property owner was NOT part of my plan (insert laughter here) but you know what they say about ‘our plans’. I just couldn’t let this building go. I had worked so hard over the past 12 months. I was dreaming about the great things that could be done in a space like this.
Three floors gave me the ability to have three separate, potentially diverse streams of revenue. I knew at least one of the floors had to be used to help others in some way and one way I thought I could help was with housing for men in recovery. I was quickly shown the error in my thinking by some influential women in the area. They told me that men had more than enough housing--women’s housing was what was needed. In February of 2017 I began the renovations. The mission was to build clean, safe and affordable housing for women in recovery.
I decided to cut through all the red tape that is usually associated with grant funding by bypassing it altogether. I borrowed some money from family, renovated the 2nd floor and we were ready to welcome our first resident, but I still had to give the place a name.
Why Julia House?
I am fortunate to have been raised by some incredibly strong, hard-working and sensible women. I believe in the indomitable human spirit and I wanted residents of this new house to believe in that too. I wanted the name to represent the belief that ALL women are capable, but I also wanted it to be personal and a bit of a tribute. It didn’t take long to settle on the name for the house. I had a Great-Grandmother, she passed away in 1997 at the ripe old age of 84. I never saw someone work hard as she did. She loved to garden, and she fed herself and her family from that garden. She had hundreds of jars of canned vegetables and jams in her cellar when she passed. She never wasted anything and as a result never wanted for much. She learned the value of a dollar by living through the Great Depression, losing the family business to a fire (with no insurance to rebuild) and losing her husband and her only income when she was just 50 years old. She managed to hold onto the farm they owned, keep her modest home clean and in good repair while receiving no Social Security, pension or any other benefits after losing her husband in a tragic mining accident. Her name was Julia Zenmartoni- Gregori. I named Julia House after her.
So, we had a house, a name and our first resident but we didn’t have a “program.” But that developed over the next few months. I had to ask myself what I wanted Julia House to accomplish.
At first, I had very modest goals but as things often do these goals grew exponentially. I settled myself down and focused on what we could do with a good chance of success. I decided that all we would promise was a clean, safe, affordable place to live for the residents. We would focus on the lower-level or physiological needs of the women at JH and thereby giving them the freedom and peace of mind to pursue the higher-level goals with the direction of their peer supports.
As of today, we have had more than 30 women come through Julia House. Of those 30, there are a few tragedies, but there are so many triumphs. I don’t want to sound like I am taking credit because all the credit goes to the women, their supports, and to God. But I know that Julia House has helped everyone that has passed through our doors. The residents are not the only ones that get the help they need. I have benefitted from my experience with Julia House and the women that reside there. I have learned to be more patient, more understanding, less gullible and more caring thanks to these amazing human beings who are the women of Julia House.
How Sullivan Brothers Coffee fits in
Julia House is on the second floor of a three-story building. I chose to renovate the second floor first because of the urgent need for housing for women in recovery. I also wanted to do something to benefit others that would have an immediate impact. After the place started filling up, we moved down to the first floor to remodel.
I had a vision for myself and the first-floor space. I wanted to own and operate an espresso bar and café. That vision would become a reality after 18 months of demolition and building and rebuilding. I named it Sullivan Brothers Coffee Company (SBCC) and I opened the doors to the public on December 10th, 2018. I wanted SBCC to be a place that served great food and superb coffee and tea, but I also wanted it to have a social mission that could change the way our town viewed people in recovery. I never wanted to overtly tie the two together, I wanted our guests to get to know the women as people first without the stigma of addiction clouding their first impression.
I imagined the residents of Julia House would have the need for gainful employment but after years of chronic alcohol and substance abuse, lack of any reference-worthy job experience, and low self-esteem where would they find a good job in a “safe” environment?
The answer was SBCC, of course! I could give these wonderful people their first job since they got sober. I could help them to understand how the principles of their 12-step program apply in every part of their life. They could learn how to be accountable, trustworthy, reliable, and responsible and so much more.
I hired my first Julia House alumni right about the time we opened. Her name is Brit and she is 29 years old now. She is such a valuable member of our team. She has developed into a great woman, mother and role model for the women she is helping. She is a taxpayer, a voter, a mentor and so much more. She, along with the other women, are changing the way people think about women in recovery. Brit is raising her daughter in a drug and alcohol-free home and that means that the cycle is being broken.
Brit is just one great example of what these women can become if they are given an opportunity, not a hand-out. The story of Julia House is still being written and I hope it will be a never-ending one.