In an old church in Spokane’s Shadle Park area, a different type of revival is underway.

At Next Chapter: Home & Leadership Development, people exiting homelessness shop for their own free furniture and home goods. They then can return to the former sanctuary to learn leadership skills that will help them as they embark on a new beginning.

Next Chapter opened its doors in late April at the former Sunrise Church of Christ, at 4718 N. Ash, and is the vision of co-founders Lerria Schuh and Julie Silbar.

Schuh, who is also the executive director of Spokane-based Smith-Barbieri Progressive Fund, says that over the years, a constant description she hears from nonprofits that serve homeless people is that they have lost all hope and dignity. In establishing Next Chapter, Schuh and Silbar wanted to create an experience that removes some of that shame and helps people feel a sense of agency over their lives.

“This is free of charge, but we want to give something, more than just the stuff,” Schuh says. “We want them to have the experience of picking things out, making choices, … and replenishing some of that dignity that was probably lost along the way.”

Further building on ways to empower and bequeath people with a sense of worthiness and confidence, Silbar, an adjunct professor at Gonzaga University with a doctorate in leadership studies, is designing a six-month board development and leadership course that people exiting homelessness can take at no charge. The coursework will include a study of organizational practices, leadership theory, financial oversight, and nonprofit board strategy.

Next Chapter will be used to give students hands-on experience of how to operate an organization. Silbar says she hopes the certificate program will earn a sense of recognition in Spokane, in which employers and businesses are familiar with the skills and knowledge its graduates attain. 

“I would love to invite other businesses in to just even review the curriculum so they can say, 'I know you’ve got those skills from this program,'” Silbar says.

The board development and leadership program is expected to launch in the fall and will enroll up to 15 students, she adds. 

Silbar and Schuh first met over 25 years ago when they worked for Spokane-based Cavanaugh’s Hotels and G&B Select-A-Seat. They remained friends after working together and would regularly catch up with each other, sharing the things they were learning in their new roles.

As executive director of the Smith-Barbieri fund, Schuh regularly authorizes grants to local organizations to help provide people exiting homelessness with home furnishings. Some organizations provide clients with a mattress but not much else, she says. 

“I just couldn’t get over thinking about people walking into their apartment, trying to overcome whatever it is that they were dealing with, and having blank walls and no couch to sit on,” says Schuh, who began dreaming of opening a free art gallery for newly-housed people to shop. 

Silbar has plenty of sports equipment and other things her two kids no longer need or use that she was planning to donate. The two combined their ideas and years of experience in nonprofits and academia to create Next Chapter.

Next Chapter was established through a $36,000 grant from the Smith-Barbieri Progressive Fund. Don Barbieri and Sharon Smith, the founders of the Smith-Barbieri Progressive Fund, approved the grant funding. Typically, Schuh administers all requests for grants that come to the organization, but in this case, she needed to step out of that role to not create a conflict of interest, she says.

Smith-Barbieri Progressive Fund is also Next Chapter’s fiscal sponsor, which allows the young nonprofit to use the foundation’s legal and tax-exempt status to receive donations while it goes through the process to become an independent 501(c)(3) organization. 

Next Chapter is open by appointment only for now. Silbar and Schuh aren't paid employees and typically come in around lunch and other free windows of time to organize and host shoppers. The organization has five board members, including Schuh and Silbar. It has partnered with five local nonprofits: Compassionate Addiction Treatment, Jewels Helping Hands, Health & Justice Recovery Alliance, Spokane AIDS Network, and CHAS Health's Homeless Outreach team.

The organization also has about 15 volunteers who donate their time in various ways. One volunteer, for example, has a truck and helps haul furniture and other home goods to people’s new homes. Other volunteers are skilled in refurbishing upholstery or sewing.

To organize the former church and turn it into a furniture showroom, Schuh and Silbar laid out living room sets and dining tables with plates and napkins, just like one would find in a commercial home goods store. 

“We were very intentional with how we wanted to display things; we didn’t want it to look like a thrift store,” Schuh says. “We wanted somebody to be able to come in and envision what this could look like in their house.” 

The pews were removed from the nave, the main worship area, and along the walls, shoppers will find kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, and children’s sections. In the center of the space and on the stage are different living room schemes complete with lamps, carpets, center tables, and other accessories. The choir section on the second floor is currently being stocked with Christmas and other holiday decorations that the organization plans to bring out seasonally. 

When someone gets keys to a new apartment, one of the nonprofits Next Chapter has partnered with will call the organization and schedule an appointment, Schuh says. 

“We ask the nonprofit to have a shopping buddy with them because what we’ve found is most of them are very reluctant to say take a painting off the wall,” Schuh says. “They haven’t done that in a very long time. There’s real empowerment, a mental process that takes place in a situation like that, which is what we wanted to achieve.” 

The shopper is also given a clipboard with some guidelines to help them make decisions, Silbar says. A single person is allowed a plate set for four people and one set of bath towels, for example.

All shoppers are given a basket of new cleaning supplies, courtesy of local youth drives, Schuh says. For example, she says, a soccer team from Gonzaga Preparatory School hosted a cleaning-supply drive, rather than a food drive.

"It's been easy for youth to get involved," she says.  

In the coming months, Schuh and Silbar hope to plan several fundraisers to keep the organization going and welcome their first cohort of students in the leadership and development program.

"We have dreams," Schuh says. "I'm not letting go of my art gallery thing, I really want that to happen."