- COMMUNITY CENTER
Nonprofits propose plan to boost services in Adelanto
- By Shea JohnsonStaff WriterPosted Jul. 26, 2015 at 12:09 PM
ADELANTO — Two local nonprofits are seeking to reinvigorate the city's Community Center as a source of services for Adelanto residents in a proposal that piqued the interests of City Council members last week.
The center, located at 1555 Cortez Avenue, had last been a weight room for the High Desert Mavericks before the Council voted in April to shut the minor league baseball team out of the facility over a dispute about parking fees purportedly owed by the baseball organization.
On Wednesday, the heads of Victorville-based nonprofit Another Level for Women, and Swapping Mamas, of Adelanto, proposed a plan to the Council that would re-purpose the community center as The Unity Center — a facility that would become home to direct services such as support groups, client care and training, youth and educational programs.
Another Level for Women provides services to women, including financial literacy workshops and utility assistance. Swapping Mamas allows families in need to obtain clothing.
As part of the proposal, Another Level for Women CEO and President Ammie Hines said the nonprofits would call upon other organizations, including others in the High Desert Community Foundation, to build the collaborative effort. The Unity Center coalition would provide all building upgrades to bring the facility to compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, maintain the building and pay all utilities for 10 years in exhange for a 10-year lease.
The lease conditions would include free rent for the first year and second-year rent payments of $100 per month that would escalate to $300 per month for years three through 10.
The Unity Center would then also advertise, market and promote the city and greater area throughout the county and southern California.
"We know that there's a need in this community for those services and the resources that we provide," Hines said, "and we're very focused on forming a coalition of collaborative organizations, working together, partnering together to bring those services to the city."
Mayor Pro Tem Jermaine Wright said he saw the potential collaboration as a means to finally use the community center for the community at a time when the city needed unity.
"For you to have this idea to bring all these resources together here in our community so our residents don't have to travel to Victorville," Wright said, "it's about time we stop being dependent on Victorville to provide the services for our residents. I'm standing behind y'all tonight and I'm making it very public I'm standing behind y'all."
Mayor Rich Kerr lauded the nonprofits' work and said the plan "sounds like a good thing."
"So let's sit down, let's look at it and let's push it forward," he said.
Shea Johnson may be reached at 760-955-5368 or SJohnson@VVDailyPress.com. Follow him on Twitter at @DP_Shea.
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