The Creative Vision Factory, for 13 years a refuge in downtown Wilmington for individuals struggling with addiction and mental health issues, is reopening this month in the city’s Little Italy community with a new name – the Wilmington Recovery Café.
A grand opening is scheduled for Sept. 24, following a “soft opening” that began in late August, said Michael Kalmbach, the CVF founder who is transitioning into a new role as director of the Recovery Café, housed in the former Corleto-Latina Funeral Home, 808-810 N. Union St.
“We will be a hub of engagement, a place where people can feel safe, and also learn how to get involved,” Kalmbach told neighbors gathered for a town hall-like meeting in mid-August.
The Creative Vision Factory, one of a series of drop-in peer-guided mental health centers established following a lawsuit settlement in a case involving the state’s warehousing of mental health patients at the Delaware State Hospital, won acclaim for its success in supporting its members’ recovery by engaging them in public art projects in Wilmington, in schools and at the Winterthur Museum. Over time, and especially after the Covid-19 pandemic, Kalmbach and CVF’s clients felt less welcome in their storefront one block west of Market Street as more luxury apartments were built in the surrounding area.
With its future financing from the state uncertain, CVF closed in June as it merged with Impact Life, a larger social services agency, which recently purchased the former funeral home for just over $500,000. (Corleto-Latina has moved into a newer building on Union Street, opposite its original site.)
“The Wilmington Recovery Café is not just a building. It’s a beacon of hope, a safe haven where anyone who needs connection, support and compassion can find it. Our doors are open to all, regardless of where you come from or what your story is,” said Impact Life CEO Domenica Personti, who grew up in Little Italy and bought her first home as an adult in the neighborhood.
“It’s a safe space for anyone who is in recovery from anything – drugs, domestic violence, homelessness, anything,” said Zacke Ferry, Impact Life’s director of recovery education.
Similar, but different
The Recovery Café will incorporate many of the features of the Creative Vision Factory, but it won’t be quite the same, Kalmbach said.
Instead of leading a small staff and often feeling overwhelmed while operating rather independently, Kalmbach is now guiding a program buttressed by strong support.
In addition to being part of Impact Life, the program is becoming an affiliate of the Recovery Café Network, an organization with nearly 70 sites nationwide, so it will not only follow that group’s best practices and management standards but also benefit from the training, mentoring and experience-sharing that it offers.
The Union Street site is not the only recovery café in Delaware. In July, Highmark Health Options and Network Connect partnered to open a recovery café in Dover. Impact Life recently opened a “recovery hub” in downtown Georgetown and expects it to receive café certification later this year, Personti said. Impact Life is planning another recovery café in Seaford to open in a month or so, she said.
Refurbishing and furnishing the former funeral home is now underway. When the work is done, there will be a check-in station near the front door and two main interior sections, a café on the left and an art studio on the right, Kalmbach said. The second floor has plenty of room for office space. A garden and a small seating area are planned for the space behind the building.
No one turned away
While the CVF operated essentially as a drop-in center, the Recovery Café uses a “membership model,” Ferry said.
Individuals are offered a “guest pass” the first time they visit the café; after three visits, they’re asked to become a member, he said. There are three requirements for members: being sober whenever they’re in the café, participating in a “recovery circle” session once a week, and “being of service,” which means performing tasks like making coffee or helping with cleanup.
No one will be turned away from the café, Ferry said. If an individual is not sober when they arrive at the door, he explained, they will be referred to Impact Life’s recovery center in Elsmere, where appropriate services are available.
The recovery circles will be kept small – usually a dozen participants or less – and will serve as an opportunity for café staff to check in with clients as they describe their needs and discuss their challenges, Kalmbach and Ferry said.
Programming at the café will likely include yoga and meditation sessions and a variety of interest and support groups, with themes like gardening and writing, Kalmbach said. A lot will depend on members’ interests. They will be able to start their own groups, community members can offer sessions based on their skills, and collaborations with entities like the Woodlawn Library and area museums are also possible, he said.
The café began full-day operations on Tuesday and drew 19 participants to a 2 p.m. yoga class. The yoga class will be offered on the first three Tuesdays of the month, Kalmbach said, with “disco boxing” on the schedule for 2 p.m. on the fourth Tuesday.
Uncertainty about CVF clients
Kalmbach isn’t sure how many of his former Creative Vision Factory clients – the outpost on Shipley Street had been serving up to 100 individuals a day earlier this year – would find their way to the new location. He said he has seen some of them in the past month or so during his stops in downtown Wilmington, primarily at the library and transitional housing sites.
“Everyone I talked to is eager to have someplace to go,” Kalmbach said, noting the challenges the homeless face in finding respites from the summer’s extreme heat.
But the Union Street site is more accessible than the alternatives, he said. In the spring, Creative Vision Factory faced the prospect of a total shutdown. Then, prior to the purchase of the new site, Impact Life floated the possibilities of locating at its center in Elsmere or at an undetermined location in downtown Newark.
Kevin Kelley, a former Wilmington city councilman, thinks that a significant number of the city’s homeless and individuals in recovery will eventually arrive at the café. “Some people seem to believe that we’re a big metropolis, but the new location is one five-minute bus ride away from where [the Creative Vision Factory] was,” he said.
Kelley also believes the café’s team and members will find the Union Street and Little Italy environment more welcoming than they felt downtown. The café will become part of a community with strong, established entities, he said, mentioning the West End Neighborhood House, the West Side Grows economic development group, the Little Italy Neighborhood Association, and St. Francis Hospital.
By becoming part of Impact Life’s infrastructure, Kalmbach has found a sense of strength that the Creative Vision Factory, as an independent operation, did not have. “Impact Life has a deep team of people who can provide support. It’s all just a phone call away,” he said.
Community questions
Some of the questions from community members during the mid-August town hall meeting were aimed at learning more about those supports.
A resident of the nearby Cool Spring neighborhood asked how the café would interact with the community. Kalmbach mentioned the potential for the café’s staff and clients to participate in programs at the Woodlawn Library, two blocks west of Union Street, or at the new park the city is creating on the site of the former Rodney Reservoir, four blocks to the east.
“We are a connection point. This is a safe space. If you have a need, you can come in here and we will help you find how to meet your need.”Erin Booker, chairman of Impact Life’s board of directors, says the Wilmington Recovery Café meets the needs of all individuals.
Volunteers from the community will also be welcome, either to share their skills and creativity with café clients or to assist in leading the recovery circles.
A Wilmington police officer who patrols in the neighborhood asked about resources available at the café and whether they should direct individuals in crisis situations to the café.
“We are a connection point,” said Erin Booker, chairman of Impact Life’s board of directors. “This is a safe space. If you have a need, you can come in here and we will help you find how to meet your need.”
The team at the recovery café will include a specialist in workforce development, someone capable of guiding individuals toward employment or job training, Kalmbach added.
A Union Street resident, noting that individual crises don’t always occur within the typical 9-to-5 workday, asked about the café’s hours.
At the start, the café will be open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays and from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday, Kalmbach said. Longer hours will be considered after the café is well established, Booker added.
Kelley, the former city councilman, says there’s a need for more recovery cafés. “There’s value to having them anywhere in the city. I wish they had the resources to open up more. Addiction knows no boundaries,” he said.
