If someone in Boone County has nowhere to sleep tonight, there’s now one address to know: the Opportunity Campus, which opened July 13 at 1300 Bowling Street in Columbia and has already settled into a steady rhythm of helping people through the door.
Who it’s for: the Waypoint Shelter, the campus’s main overnight shelter, serves adults 18 and older. The New Day Center, its overnight space next door, is generally for ages 21 and up, though staff make exceptions for younger people in an emergency by arranging separate supervision.
How to get in: the one requirement is that a person became homeless while living in Boone County. Staff confirm that through a short intake conversation when someone arrives — no paperwork or appointment required ahead of time. People from outside the county are pointed toward other resources rather than turned away with nowhere to go.
When: it’s already busy. Two weeks after opening, the campus is running 85 to 90 percent full most nights — 128 to 135 people at Waypoint, with another 15 or so using the New Day Center. When Waypoint fills up, staff have been setting out overflow cots in the building’s vestibule rather than closing the door.
What makes the Opportunity Campus different from a single shelter is the roof it sits under: more than 30,000 square feet built to hold roughly 30 local nonprofits working the same building, so someone who walks in for a bed can also be connected to the other help those organizations offer. Pets are welcome too — the campus had five dogs in its temporary quarantine area as of this week, so a person doesn’t have to choose between a safe night and their dog.
“It’s been really amazing,” the campus’s director, Jessica McNear, said of how the nonprofits under one roof have worked together so far — collaboration she said has “far exceeded my expectations.”
Two weeks isn’t a long track record, but for a building this new to already be running near capacity — and still finding room for the person who shows up at 90 percent full — is worth knowing about, whether you need the door yourself or you’re the one who tells a neighbor where it is.
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