Keystone Mission serving homeless people in Lackawanna, Luzerne counties dismisses director
The Keystone Mission has been having a rough time.
The nonprofit, which provides services to homeless individuals in Luzerne and Lackawanna counties, dismissed Executive Director Danielle Keith-Alexandre on Jan. 29 and appointed former Director Justin Behrens as its interim director beginning Feb. 1.
On his first day, Behrens faced a major challenge, when the organization didn't have enough staff to open its Code Blue Shelter at Weston Field in Scranton.
Behrens said he went right to work and found staffing for the site, which enabled it to open, albeit several hours late. He pointed out that the emergency shelter now has staffing for the foreseeable future, but admits it was an early obstacle to overcome.
Scranton City Councilwoman Jessica Rothchild discussed the situation at Tuesday's council meeting. She said the late opening of the Code Blue shelter was because of staffing issues, noting that temperatures that night dropped to 9 degrees.
She said the Keystone Mission contracts with the city to staff the shelter with specially trained employees and so the city could not place volunteers at the site directly.
Rothchild said she and Councilman Gerald Smurl went out to the shelter and it opened.
She said the city would coordinate with the Mission to ensure the late opening would not happen again.
No stranger to the role
Behrens is no stranger to the position or its duties, having served in the role from 2018 to 2023, leaving when his wife began a job as a nursing professor at Penn State University.
And, although Behrens lives in State College, when the organization's board of directors asked him to return and help the Mission out of a difficult time, he didn't hesitate.
He admits the organization with both Wilkes-Barre and Scranton locations is going through difficult times and the nonprofit's reputation has suffered a bit.
Behrens said donations to the organization are down about 40% in the last year, a reduction common to many nonprofits in the current economic environment.
He is looking to community members and businesses to donate to the organization, to support the vision of equipping members of the homeless population to become productive members of the community.
He's not looking solely to any politician or to any one-time grants to lift the organization out of its financial challenges. Instead, he hopes people of both counties will become familiar with the Mission and the people it serves.
Behrens' vision for improving the Mission goes beyond simply an increase in finances to a vision of equipping those it serves for work and permanent housing situations, rather than a short-term fix.
He recently stepped into the day room at the Innovation Center in Wilkes-Barre where he said people were 'sitting and waiting' to move from the day room to the nighttime shelter.
Behrens would like to see the homeless population served by the Mission using their time to acquire skills such as budgeting and training, which will prepare them for life.
He also looks forward to working with other nonprofits to meet the needs of the community.
'I don't want to do anything suddenly,' he said. 'But, I'd like to steer the organization toward equipping those we serve. So, they can work and talk about getting an apartment on their own.'
One of the parts of the organization that works, he said, is Wilkes-Barre's Transformation Center, a residential program which centers around education, spirituality, life skills and training to prepare men to live independently.
Behrens said the program, instituted during his previous tenure as director, was meant to transforms live.
Behrens is not currently being paid for his position as director. He plans to split his time between his State College residence and the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre area.
Behrens runs a comic book store in State College and can tend to the business from anywhere, since it is fully staffed.
He acknowledges that moving forward, he may get paid, but that's not what's important.
Instead, he is aiming at helping the Mission, which he calls 'his baby,' recover from a difficult time.
When Behrens originally left his position as director two years ago, the Mission was in good financial shape, he said. He declined comment on the former director, but pointed out not everyone is designed for every position.
Innovation Center
When contacted by The Times-Tribune on Thursday evening, Wilkes-Barre Mayor George Brown said he hadn't been informed of the change in leadership.
He pointed out the city had presented the nonprofit's Innovation Center with a total of $390,000 in grant money, including $109,500 check in June to enable the nonprofit to offer overnight housing for one full year.
Behrens said the Innovation Center still provides a variety of services to the community, including a day room and overnight shelter.
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