Our Initiatives
We remain constant learners and continue to adapt to meet the evolving challenges for low-income single mother families throughout our community. Below are three of the major initiatives we’ve undertaken in response.
The Village
From 2013 to 2020, The Restoration House developed The Village, a community of 24 individual apartments (in 4 buildings) and amenities on 6 acres. The Village community is an environment conducive to growth, engagement & collaboration.
The project was completed in 3 phases over 7 years with no long-term financing.
Over that period 1,000 individuals, churches, foundations, and corporations contributed over $5M, with only $780K coming from public funding to develop The Village. The Restoration House had a tremendous development team including Studio 4 Design, Hickory Construction, Management Solutions, Van Tyler Construction, Moody Construction and Home Federal Bank to name a few.
Phase I (2013 to 2015) was $2.5M and included all the design work, infrastructure, and completion of the Community Center, Offices, 6 housing units, walking path and elementary playground. This phase was completed ahead of schedule and under budget.
Phase II (2016 to 2018) was $1.75M and included the next 12 housing units, the foundation for the final 6 units, and a basketball court. This phase was completed ahead of schedule and under budget.
Phase III (2019-2020) was $750K and included the completion of the final 6 units along with a preschool age playground.
With the completion of The Village, The Restoration House’s capacity increased by 400%, providing opportunity for 150 families and over 300 children over the following 10 years.
McKamey Place
In 2022, The Restoration House was looking to launch a new early education center while also securing much needed space to expand its youth development program in partnership with Emerald Youth Foundation and its therapeutic services in partnership with Harmony Family Center.
Originally, The Restoration House was going to open an early education center on a half acre lot next to The Village that was secured in 2017. As the initial design work was being completed to build a new center on this site in 2022, The Restoration House became aware of a beautiful 16 acre site with a 2 acre pond and 10,000 square foot building 1.5 miles from The Village that was available.
The school that used to meet on the site had closed and the site was perfect to launch an early education center as half of the building was already designed for that use. The building would also provide ample space to expand The Restoration House youth development program, On Belay for children in K through 12, while also providing space for expanded therapeutic services.
The Restoration House secured the site in 2022 and in 2023 invested $1.3M in renovating the entire building while adding a 2 acre all natural playscape and widening the driveway.
The site is now known as McKamey Place. On this site, in September of 2023, The Restoration House opened Olive Tree Early Learning Academy, launched our On Belay youth development program, and began providing space for families to access therapeutic services.
In 2024, The Restoration House completed a master plan for McKamey Place with the support of the Trinity Health Foundation. This master plan maximizes the therapeutic potential of the natural environment in the lives of families across three partner organizations.
Some of the projects in the master plan include low-ropes elements, a dock, a pasture and stable for therapeutic riding, a trail system, a gazebo, storage building, outdoor classroom, expanded facilities for Olive Tree, and more. If you or your organization would like to help any of these projects come to life please contact Daniel Watson, our Executive Director.
Olive Tree Early Learning Academy
Since its inception The Restoration House knew that high-quality early education is foundational for future flourishing for children and families. In 2017, The Restoration House took the first major step in launching an early education center by purchasing a half acre lot with a small home next to The Village.
In 2018 and 2019, The Restoration House began early benchmarking work in partnership with UTK. In 2021, The Restoration House launched a feasibility study to better understand the needs around high quality early education and childcare in our community with the support of the United Way’s Bright Steps collective impact strategy.
Then in 2022, The Restoration House secured a larger 16 acre site that had an existing 10,000 square foot building, half of which was already designed as an early education center. This site would become known as McKamey Place and provided the opportunity to launch Olive Tree Early Learning Academy while also expanding The Restoration House’s youth development and therapeutic services. The Restoration House also secured initial seed funding from the Trinity Health Foundation to launch Olive Tree.
The Restoration House launched a $2.4M campaign for the initial start-up costs, renovation, and operational reserves for Olive Tree. Over 100 individuals, churches, foundations, and corporations contributed over $2.6M to the campaign. During that summer The Restoration House invested $1.3M in renovating the entire building while adding a 2 acre all natural playscape and widening the driveway.
Olive Tree Early Learning Academy launched in September of 2023 and today serves over 70 children, 6 weeks to 5 years old annually. On average 70% of families who take advantage of Olive Tree’s high quality trauma responsive early education are low-income and 50% are single parent families.
