After operating First Step Recovery Homes, Inc. as a nonprofit organization for nearly 24 years, Keith Giles, founder and chief executive officer, realizes that for continued success it is necessary for the organization to become self-sustaining.
“We are building businesses for our residents,” he said during his remarks at the Putting a Face on Addiction Symposium, recently held on the Duquesne University Campus.
First Step, based in Mc-Keesport, a former booming steel industry town, is a long-term residential recovery program for men. Its mission is to provide supervised, temporary, safe drug- and alcohol-free structured housing and supportive services for persons recovering from the disease of addiction and trying to stay out of the criminal justice system.
Emphasis are placed on creating a sustainable “recovery community” for each person, where they have the tools, resources and supports in place to maintain independence, stay clean and sober and fulfill their life’s purpose and reconnecting clients with their families. Programming includes Transitional, Bridge and a Substance Abuse and Reintegration Housing Program.
Throughout the years, First Step has provided more than 800 homeless adult males a safe recovery atmosphere, has provided recovery services to assist and enable men to return to their families and has assisted its residents to obtain meaningful employment. This being accomplished in a Mon Valley city where the provision of independent supportive housing is grossly neglected and with a population of fewer than 20,000 residents as recorded in the 2010 census records. “We understand the connection between depression and drug addiction and the devastating loss of wages on the family unit,” said Giles.
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