New Life for Coffeyville's Longfellow School

For the first time in more than two decades, the public got a chance to walk the halls of the Longfellow School in Coffeyville.

On Friday, an open house was held at what is now called the Longfellow Center, giving former students the chance to walk the halls and reminisce about their school days.

While the building has most recently sat vacant and vandalized after being closed by this school district more than 25 years ago and changing ownership several times, the facility is being reborn as the region's first transitional housing facility with the completion of the first apartment.

The venture is being spearheaded by Robert Cooper and his daughter Emily Lewis of Friend and Kin Properties, a non-profit in Coffeyville. Cooper says he became aware of the need for temporary and transitional housing through a personal experience.

Cooper says there will eventually be several individual apartments and one large shared apartment in the old kindergarten room.

Cooper says the idea of transitional housing is short term hand-up assistance to help people get back on their feet. The housing will be managed by a third-party, most likely Four County Mental Health and Friend and Kin is working towards an agreement.

The Longfellow Center is already host to KFAN's assistance center and a local furniture ministry headed by Doug Mund and Joe Brooks. Cooper says after the apartments are finished, work will begin on the other wing of classrooms.

Friend and Kin acquired the property more than three years ago from a pastor in Parsons, while the apartments have been in the works for about two years. Cooper says the project has been funded largely by private grants and donations, and built through volunteer hours. To learn more about the Longfellow project, listen to the full interview here.

To learn more about Friend and Kin and how you can help, click here.