NORFOLK, Va. — For decades, families came to DePaul Hospital to welcome new babies, recover from illness and receive medical care.
Soon, the former hospital property will begin serving the community in a different way.
Construction is expected to begin in September on the Saint Vincent de Paul House, a $55 million campus that will become the permanent home of Next Step to Success, a nonprofit dedicated to helping Norfolk teenagers break the cycle of poverty through mentoring, education and life skills.
The campus will rise on the former DePaul Hospital site in Norfolk's Riverpoint neighborhood, where the long-vacant hospital was demolished to make way for a new vision focused on the city's next generation.
For Chuck McPhillips, chairman of Next Step to Success, the project has become deeply personal.
"It's a labor of love," McPhillips said. "If we can succeed, it'll make a profound difference in Norfolk."
The project has been years in the making.
Next Step to Success, an initiative of the Barry Robinson Foundation, was launched with an ambitious goal of reducing poverty in Norfolk by investing in young people before they reach adulthood. The program currently operates out of the former Christ the King Catholic School on Tidewater Drive, where it serves about 125 middle and high school students through free after-school and summer programming. Students receive meals, transportation, mentoring, career exploration opportunities and life skills training at no cost to their families.
Leaders say the new campus will allow the organization to significantly expand its reach.
"We've completed design and are ready to pick up the building permit," McPhillips said. "We have all the approvals necessary from the city. We're about to sign a construction contract later this week and begin construction in September."
The first phase of the campus will include an administration building, an art and media center, a gymnasium, cafeteria, learning house, soccer field and basketball courts. Future phases will add additional learning houses as the program grows. Leaders expect enrollment to increase to about 200 students when the campus opens and eventually to more than 400.
The entire campus is expected to cost about $55 million.
"It's close to $55 million all in," McPhillips said. "We're making this generational investment because it's so necessary."
To help finance construction, the Norfolk City Council and the city's Economic Development Authority approved the issuance of tax-exempt bonds. McPhillips said that approval allows the nonprofit to borrow money at a lower interest rate and does not mean taxpayers are paying for the project.
"To get a tax-exempt loan, you issue a bond," he said. "You have to get the approval of the city and the Economic Development Authority to issue that bond. But the city takes no financial responsibility. The taxpayer takes no financial responsibility. It's just a way under the Internal Revenue Code that we can borrow money at a lower interest rate, and that makes the project much more affordable."
Although the hospital itself is gone, its legacy will remain.
The organization intentionally chose to name the campus the Saint Vincent de Paul House, paying tribute to the hospital that served generations of Hampton Roads families.
"The name was chosen with care," McPhillips said. "The original Saint Vincent de Paul Hospital grew out of a home, and it's just been a beacon of sanctuary to help people heal and grow. People have celebrated births, been healed here, so there's just a great emotional attachment to that legacy."
Beyond the new buildings, McPhillips said the campus is designed to provide something every child deserves: a place where they feel safe, supported and encouraged to dream bigger.
"What we do here is we provide a nice, safe home away from home, where they form great relationships, good, healthy relationships, self-reinforcing relationships," he said. "They come to realize they don't have to live in a certain way. They can achieve the middle-class or higher standard of living we all have ambitions for, and they can do it."
Students are encouraged to explore careers, learn skilled trades, participate in STEM and arts programs, and develop what the organization calls "grit goals"—long-term personal goals that prepare them for adulthood.
McPhillips believes the impact will extend well beyond the students who enroll.
"When we get up to 400-plus students, and they are all thriving, they're success stories. Well, they have brothers and sisters. They have neighbors. They've got classmates. They've got teammates that they could be role models for," he said.
He said that's why he views the project as an investment in Norfolk's future.
"These young folks and their parents are our future," McPhillips said. "Just imagine if we could take those young folks and help them achieve that. How much more beautiful Norfolk would be. How much safer Norfolk would be. How much more inclusive and prosperous Norfolk would be."
For him, the mission of Next Step to Success comes down to one simple belief.
"We believe every child wants to succeed. Every child can succeed. And by gosh, every young person deserves a fair chance to succeed, and that's our responsibility to give them that fair chance."
Construction is expected to begin in September. Leaders anticipate the first phase of the Saint Vincent de Paul House will open in about a year and a half, allowing the organization to move from its current home on Tidewater Drive into a larger campus built to serve hundreds more Norfolk students for generations to come.
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