The Walmart Business Advance Podcast: How Providence Park is Creating Local Solutions to Homelessness

[00:00:01] Errin Stanger For my birthday a few years ago, I looked at my husband and said, okay, a birthday present that I'm going to give to myself is to start my own nonprofit. Because I knew something was brewing. 

[00:00:12] Ashley Hubka That's Erin Stanger, founder and CEO of Providence Park Homes, a 50 acre community in North Little Rock, Arkansas, being built to provide homes to the chronically homeless. It's a Herculean effort, one that's required a lot of research, a lot of planning and help from her community, which just so happened to include mart business. I'm Ashley Hubka, senior vice president and general manager of Walmart Business. And welcome to the Walmart Business Advance, a series dedicated to highlighting the small and medium sized organizations that are Walmart Business customers and suppliers. You'll hear stories of how they've grown their organizations and what they've learned along the way at Walmart Business. We are dedicated to helping organizations save time, money and hassle so they can operate and grow. Whether that's helping them purchase the items they need to operate or serving as a platform for businesses to sell their products to our B2B customers. At Walmart, we believe that a business thrives when it creates value for society. For us, this is true in many ways. As the world's largest grocer. We provide convenient access to affordable food and other products to people around the world. And we do that in ways that help create economic opportunity, advance long term environmental sustainability and strengthen local communities. This shared value approach is complemented by Walmart.org philanthropic investments, which focus on areas where we use our strengths and expertise and collaborate with others to bring about system wide change. 

[00:01:52] Errin Stanger How I got into nonprofit work is an incredible story and a personal story. That year I was planning to go to medical school. My sister called to tell me that she was diagnosed with stage four breast cancer and she lived in California at the time. I was 2000 miles away and I immediately wanted to hug her and I couldn't. And so I said, I'll see you tomorrow. And I hopped on a plane the next day and flew out there to to see her and be with her. And that turned into a five year caregiving experience. After she passed away. And dear friend grabbed me by the arm and said, Hey, what are you doing this weekend? Will you come and volunteer at the Race for the Cure? And, you know, that actually sounds fun, and I do want to do that. And that led to me wanting to do a whole lot more and introduce me into the world of nonprofits in a really beautiful way. 

[00:02:55] Ashley Hubka And so began Errin's 20 year journey in career in the world of nonprofits, eventually leading to an encounter that would change the course of her career. 

[00:03:06] Errin Stanger I was walking into the building of my previous nonprofit. I noticed an individual that was just sleeping against our front door. I just sat down and started visiting with them and getting a really good understanding of maybe some immediate needs that they had. They were exhausted. They've been on the streets for many years and it was definitely time for a meal and maybe a fresh change of clothes. And so I realized like right around me at the time, we had several churches and shelters that were near. And I thought, wow, I think I can get some help pretty quickly for this individual. And it got them squared away as best I could in the moment. What happened after that time is as I was showing it to work again and again, I was noticing that there were more individuals that were finding [00:03:59]respect [0.0s] against our building, but also just around our downtown area. And so that began by taking a really close look to say, okay, what is what is going on right now and what can I do to make a difference? So that led me to do a ton of research to look at, okay, how are we caring for the homeless in central Arkansas? Get to look around and take care of stock, if you will, of what current indices exist to serve homeless families or children, women, men just did a really big study in that Central Arkansas study, led me to do a nationwide study and an international study with really a heart in a passion for okay, I'm looking for something that is serving the chronically homeless and is providing like longer opportunities of care. For my birthday a few years ago, I looked at my husband and said, okay, a birthday present that I'm going to give to myself is to start my own nonprofit because I knew something was brewing in me. So what I did because here we are today with Provicence Park. Providence Park is an incredible neighborhood filled with love and care for these chronically homeless individuals that will be moving into these these homes and experiencing these wraparound support services to bring them back to their whole self. And right now we are in the midst of construction. 

[00:05:34] Ashley Hubka When complete Providence Park will accommodate up to 400 tiny homes with development in full swing and plans to welcome the first residents in 2025. Errin and her team built their first model home and started thinking of other details needed to bring this community to life. 

[00:05:52] Errin Stanger I started thinking about the furnishings of the homes and what kind of look and feel do do we want to go with? I knew that I wanted to have a very much a homey feel, very comfortable. I didn't want it to feel like a dorm room. I didn't want it to feel like it's sparse inside the home. I wanted it to feel very comfortable and cozy. And I started thinking about, okay, what kind of vendor do we want to look at as refreshing these homes? And, you know, I've noticed from some other people that served the homeless in our community and even across the nation, like everybody has these wish list. I thought, gosh, that's such an easy way to give. 

[00:06:33] Ashley Hubka This is where Christina Hinds and Walmart business were able to help. 

[00:06:37] Christina Hinds Errin was introduced to me by a mutual friend, and she really saw that our commitment and shared belief as supporting our community would really align. She was in the dreaming stage and really discussed what her vision was to really resolve the issues of chronic homelessness in the area. And so I joined Walmart Business, kind of got my feet on the ground, and then reached out to Errin and said, We really believe our work could continue in my new role. And we collaborated on how Walmart Business can support the work of providence park.  Walmart has been known for all of its 60 plus years that we're serving individuals in communities. And so we bring to the consumer both our our organizational consumers and our everyday consumers and the needs of everyday life. And so everything from kitchenware to bath items to furniture. Together we aligned the products that Walmart business brings at Walmart everyday low price, and we discovered about 200 items that can support the work that she was doing as she continued to build these tiny hands. And so we worked on that item list and that provided her the ability to put her sponsorship packets together, but also order in those products and bring donors into that model tiny home, so that they could really see how the concept of a tiny home had come to life and how it can change lives for folks coming out of chronic homelessness. And we're thrilled to be able to do that and continue to leverage the dollars that she's spending with us to continue to to be stretched in and support the work that she's doing in the community. 

[00:08:22] Ashley Hubka This commitment is also important to Walmart. We believe our ability to draw on our business strengths providing more than just funding helps our philanthropy to deliver greater social impact. Today, Walmart.org through the combined philanthropic efforts of both Walmart and the Walmart Foundation creates opportunities for people to live better every day. And through our Sparc good program, we have brought together all of the Walmart and Sam's Clubs community, giving programs, making it easier for customers and our associates to give to the causes they care about most. 

[00:08:58] Christina Hinds [00:08:58]Dumb [0.0s] profit work can be very rewarding, but our nonprofits or businesses, just like the rest of organizations and the community, they were operating expenses, personnel and clients they serve. But they also have to be loyal to their donors and support good stewards of defense that they receive. And so it's so essential that we remember and support them in the work that they're doing to be able to achieve those goals. 

[00:09:25] Ashley Hubka That commitment to working together for the better is something Errin also believes is important advice for others operating a business or nonprofit. 

[00:09:39] Errin Stanger So I think the key components of success for me personally and even in nonprofit work, it's been that I have really tried to stay nimble. And I've tried to stay flexible and humble. I think it's making time to learn from others. Realizing that you just cannot do this work alone. And then also creating a team that is dedicated to the mission and vision of the work. And you're constantly empowering one another. But I also think it's really important to remember that you are going to fail and it is going to be really hard. And it's really okay. You fail through life and you've got to get back up and there's success that comes after those failures, especially if you are willing to accept the help and admit, whew, I completely did that wrong. Okay. How can I learn from that mistake? And even as I am a mentee and as a mentor others always try to remember where we are not perfect, and we really need to remember to let others in and ask for that help and be willing and ready to receive it. 

[00:10:58] Ashley Hubka You've been listening to the Walmart Business Advance, a series dedicated to highlighting our great business customers and suppliers, what they've been through, and sharing insights to help you reach the next level. If you'd like to learn more or support Errin's efforts, visit ProvidenceParkhome.com to learn more about Walmart's philanthropic efforts. Visit Walmart.org. If you'd like to learn more about being a Walmart business customer, please visit business.walmart.com. Likewise, if you enjoyed this episode, please follow rate and recommend the show to a friend or fellow business.