Project Legacy is being built in Downtown Riverside by the non-profit TruEvolution. When complete, the facility will offer 48 beds in five houses. "In the center of the campus is a 5,000 square foot commercial building, that is going to be not only our headquarters but where we are going to provide all of our social and clinical services," said TruEvolution CEO Gabriel Maldonado.
TruEvolution has an LGBTQ+ focus, but the project will be open to all. "Our organization is not only a housing organization, we are a social services organization, we're a clinical organization as well. We provide mental health services, and we hope to expand to primary care," Maldonaldo said. "So we wanted to create a physical location that could accommodate for all of those services to be provided simultaneously."
Project Legacy will also have a job training center, community garden, and fitness center. "I feel like it's an example and a model of things that could happen in other places around the country," said White House Office of National AIDS Policy Director Harold Philips.
"Projects like this usually exist in some of the larger urban areas, like in Los Angeles, New York City, or San Francisco," Philips said. "The fact that this is happening in Riverside is also something that I think makes it special and unique."
Phase one of Project Legacy is set to be complete sometime this fall, with TruEvolution hoping to have the entire facility fully up and running by next spring.
