DATE: Thursday, July 31, 1997               TAG: 9707310412

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY JOAN C. STANUS, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: NORFOLK                           LENGTH:   85 lines

GROUP HOPES ``CYBERCAFE'' WILL SOON BE ON LINE

It may seem radical. But if all goes as planned, homeless families soon will be running a cybercafe on Colley Avenue where area residents can relax over a cup of cappuccino and check their e-mail.

Homeowners looking for landscapers to plant some azaleas or weed flower beds will be able to order those, too.

And computer illiterates hankering for a user-friendly class on cruising the Internet will find it there, as well.

Never mind that those serving your coffee or helping you drag and click are working to get their lives back on track.

``This will be a place where everyone mixes together and everyone benefits,'' noted Mary Ann Welch, one of the cafe's chief proponents.

The nonprofit operation is the brainchild of staff members at the Haven Family Center. They secured a highly competitive $843,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development last November to open a ``family development center.''

The glitch to getting the project off the ground has been finding an additional $62,500 in matching funds from the community to purchase and renovate a site for the cybercafe. Getting those matching funds was a stipulation for the three-year grant, and Haven officials have until Sept. 29 to secure them.

So far, all but $12,000 has been donated, primarily from the Norfolk Foundation and the Parsons Foundation. Other donations have come from the Celia Stern Foundation, the Virginia Beach Foundation, the Wards Corner Lions Club, the Azalea Inn, 360 Communications and Sandfiddler Jewelry.

An abandoned storefront on Colley at 52nd Street - a few blocks from Old Dominion University - has been selected as the cybercafe site. HUD still has to approve the location, however.

In addition to the cafe, the Haven Family Center will locate office space within the building, and operate a small landscaping service from there.

``We're really excited about all this,'' said Elizabeth Brickhouse, executive director of the Haven Family Center. ``The final approval depends on a lot of different things happening . . . but the dream is becoming a reality.''

Staff members came up with the idea after seeing a television news account of a cybercafe in Charlottesville.

``We've been batting around what to do without putting out a negative image of homeless families, and we saw this and thought it would be just the thing,'' Brickhouse explained. ``We wanted something upbeat, where we'd be giving back to the community and providing some support for families trying to help themselves, a place where they could earn extra income.''

The people working at the cafe will be residents at either the Haven, which provides crisis and extended shelter for homeless families, or at Morgan's Place, ``transitional'' apartment housing for those working to become self-sufficient. The adults living in either place must have full-time jobs. Part-time jobs at the cybercafe will supplement those earnings to help the families afford better housing.

``When people think of the homeless, they think of soup kitchens, they think of cots in the bottom of church basements, they think of 150 people in a shelter,'' Brickhouse said. ``That's not what family homelessness is about. If things happen and folks don't know how to take charge of their problems, they spiral down and end up homeless. When families are homeless, they're at a pretty low point and they're willing to work on it. They just need a support system.''

As part of the Haven's five-step program that moves families from crisis housing to home ownership, the cybercafe will be one more way to lend that support to families, Brickhouse said.

At the same time, by selling coffee, getting computer training and doing some landscaping, the families also will be giving back to the community.

``This isn't about making money,'' she said. ``The whole emphasis is helping families who are helping themselves. If it makes money, we'll be really glad.''

Plans call for the cybercafe to eventually employ three teams of eight families, aided by a slew of volunteers. Tea, sandwiches and other light fare also will be sold.

Initially, three or four computer terminals will be installed, including one especially for children, with more coming on-line as money becomes available. If all goes well, Brickhouse hopes the grant will be renewed. Her optimism, however, is tempered.

``It's hard to know at this point,'' she said. ``But we have high hopes for its success.'' ILLUSTRATION: Graphic

TO HELP:

Donations to help get the Haven Family Center's cybercafe off the

ground can be sent to P.O. Box 8335, Norfolk, Va. 23503. KEYWORDS: EMPLOYMENT TRAINING INDIGENT PEOPLE HOMELESS

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