The grand opening of the Northern Kentucky Scholar House in Newport was held on Wednesday where organizers, elected officials, and other representatives gathered to celebrate.

Scholar House is a housing and education initiative that allows the head of a household to reach self-sufficiency, freeing themselves of public assistance. The project in Newport is the 10th Scholar House in the state and has been in the making since 2013.

It will be operated by the Brighton Center.

“We have all seen the studies and they show that families that are dependent on a single parent without an education are families that are increasingly facing homelessness,” said Kathy Peters, Executive Director of Kentucky Housing Corporation. “Parents who want to pursue college degrees will now have the support they need to work toward a better life for themselves and their families.”

State Representative Dennis Keene, Campbell County Judge/Executive Steve Pendery, Executive Director of Neighborhood Foundations Tom Guidugli, , Commissioner of Department of Local Government Tony Wilder, Sr. Vice President Federal Home Loan Bank of Cincinnati Damon Allen, President and CEO for Brighton Center Tammy Weidinger all gave remarks to the audience on hand.

In the Scholar House is 48 units, consisting of 42 two-bedroom apartments, 6 three-bedroom apartments, two fully-handicap accessible and one visually and hearing impaired living quarters. The two-bedroom apartments are 813 square feet, and the three-bedroom apartments are 1,043 square feet. With the existing Marguerite Robinson Community Center and the added space for the Child Daycare Center, the Scholar House totals over 17,000 square feet.

The project cost came in on schedule and within budget at$9.1 million, including $7.3 million in total new construction costs.

“In my 33 years as an elected official, there hasn’t been a project conceived in this community that engendered the support that this one has,” said Steve Pendery. “To pursue a medical analogy. The right diagnoses was made, we’re not just treating symptoms, we’re actually at a cure of the disease that is happening in our community and that is incredibly unusual.”

A similar Scholar House program is currently being developed in Covington where it will be operated by the Northern Kentucky Community Action Commission in the former Lincoln-Grant School building on Greenup Street.

Written by Bryan Burke, associate editor