Building the Kingdom - Our Local Impact on the Community in Elmira, New York
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"In other action Thursday, the county Planning Board also signed off on a plan to convert a former light industrial site at 744 Baldwin St. in Elmira into a community outreach center.
The building was previously occupied by X-Gen Pharmaceuticals.
The project will fill a major void in that part of the city, according to former Elmira City Council member Kenneth Brooks, who discussed the concept with the Planning Board on Thursday.
"We're looking to launch a program that deals with family enrichment, and deals with disenfranchised people in the community," Brooks said. "It's not commercial development but developing people. There's a tremendous need. There's poverty, crime, drug addiction. It's really been a problem." Date: March 30th 2017, Title: Downtown Elmira building project moves ahead - Source - STAR GAZETTE
“It’s really about community collaboration,” Kingdom Refuge & Dream Center president and director Ken Brooks said. “Neighborhoods are changing and community interactions are changing ... this is to bring 21st century ideas to 21st century families.” Brooks, who is part of the STSF committee, proposed the idea to some visionaries and friends three years ago, and the festival was organized shortly after.
“I felt it was time to provide resources to fragmented people in the community,” Brooks said. “This is a place where people get ideas to make them stronger. We’re about changing lives and being transformed.”
“They’re the unsung heroes,” Brooks said of the STSF committee.
Brooks said each year will have different attractions, so the event is never predictable. Possible activities for next year is a petting zoo and book mobile". Sept 5th, 2015 - STAR GAZETTE
At its meeting on Thursday, the Chemung County Planning Board OK’d building plans proposed by a local pastor who is moving forward with creating a new community center. Through the center, Pastor Kenneth Brooks says he is looking to help the people of Elmira, while city leaders work to bring back Elmira’s economy.
“We’re kind of in a new revitalization initiative that deals with the human issue,” Brooks said. “Not so much with economic development, but developing people.
In the community center, Brooks says he would make resources and programs available to help attack the issues he believes are holding areas of the city back from developing.
“We have more people who are either working poor, or people who are just in object poverty, which spawns crime, drug addition, actually a breakdown of neighborhoods,” Brooks said.
Programs like mentoring groups for at-risk youth, or single parents who might be struggling to get along, would be some of the programs offered at the community center, which is slated to open at 744 Baldwin St. in Elmira.
“There has to be something done to upgrade people’s lives and have gainful employment, to help them educational skills,” Brooks said.
Mar 30, 2017, Title: "Local Pastor is One Step Closer to Creating a New Community Center" Source - MyTwinTiers.com
Source: The Leader
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