It didn’t take long for local kids to begin enjoying the features of the Boys and Girls Clubs of the Corridor’s new Busse Unit.
As the facility’s grand opening and ribbon-cutting ceremony began Wednesday, June 4, children young and old were shooting baskets in the gym, testing out the game room and admiring their new surroundings.
Meanwhile, the leaders who helped bring the new 19,000-square-foot facility to life struggled to contain their emotional excitement for the completion of the Busse Unit, the club’s first standalone home since the flood of 2008.
“My son said the over-under for me to start to cry was 45 seconds,” said Boys & Girls Clubs executive director John Tursi, starting a countdown timer as he addressed an estimated 200 supporters during the facility’s grand opening ceremony. “I’m not going to let him win the bet.”
The new Busse Unit facility is located at 1602 Washington Ave. SE, in the heart of Cedar Rapids’ Wellington Heights neighborhood. It will serve as the headquarters for the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Corridor, which provides year-round youth development programs to underprivileged school-age children in Marion, Cedar Rapids and Iowa City, offering a “safe space” for the club to pursue its mission “to inspire and enable all young people, especially those who need us most, to reach their full potential as productive, caring, responsible citizens.”
Along with thanking all the supporters and donors that helped bring the new Busse Unit to fruition, Mr. Tursi took special note of the neighboring First Congregational United Church of Christ, at the intersection of Washington Avenue and 16th Street SE, which has housed the Boys & Girls Clubs’ South Unit since 2004.
“We haven’t had our own building since the flood, and that’s not easy living,” Mr. Tursi said, “but I will tell you, having great partners like First Congregational United Church of Christ, really helped pave the way, because after the flood, they were really the only facility we had open. What that really proved to us was we could take the shop on the road and be successful. (but) the first real thanks has to be to them. They opened up their doors, they allowed us to come in, and we had a home to be for a long time. The South staff – now the Bussey staff – is very sad because they’re leaving a home, but they’re pretty excited about coming out (here).”
First Congregational United Church of Christ pastor Melanie Van Weelden said the new Busse Unit “started out as a hope and a prayer and a conversation that John and I had one day in the middle of COVID, saying ‘hey, what if?’”
“For a long time, the Boys and Girls Club has been housed in our church building,” she said. “They may do with Sunday school classrooms and offices, rolling basketballs down hallways that weren’t meant for basketballs, but they made it work, they made it good, and now, thanks to a lot of faith and a lot of work and a lot of community investment and trust, this space is a reality and is built just for them.
“Now let’s not pretend we aren’t in a community that has had more than its share of challenges,” she added. And it’s easy, maybe, for the outside world to write this place off. But I’ve gotten to know the kids who come through these doors. I’ve seen their creativity and their resilience and their kindness and their dance moves that are far superior to mine. They are beautiful. And this building says to all of them – we see you, we believe in you, and you are worth every square inch of this space.”
Lori Ampey, director of programming and outreach for the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Corridor, pointed out that the club traces part of its roots to “Kids on the Block,” an outdoor program that brought her into contact with First Congregational. She also expressed her fondness for the neighborhood that surrounds the new Busse Unit.
“Wellington Heights is one of my favorite places,” she said. “I love it. I don’t care what the stigma is. People always talk about how bad this side of town is. It’s the most wonderful side of town ever. The creative kids that come out of these units is just incredible.”
Cedar Rapids Mayor Tiffany O’Donnell said the facility was also supported by a $750,000 contribution from the city’s American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding. Linn County also provided ARPA funding for the project.
“A message to the young people who are here today – this is your place,” Ms. O’Donnell said. “This is for you to be home, to dream, to do, to be, to learn, to listen. I only hope that you will be here like us, many years from now, for generations to come.”
The fundraising campaign for the new facility, dubbed “Unlocking Our Future,” was launched in September 2021, garnering $11 million, including $2 million that will be retained in an endowment fund. Formal plans for the new facility were announced in July 2022, and construction of the new Busse Unit began with a groundbreaking ceremony in April 2023.
The campaign to create the new facility is a key step in the local history of the Boys & Girls Club, which celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2023.
The new facility, which will also serve as the club’s new headquarters, is known as the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Corridor Busse Unit, named for the LaVern and Audrey Busse family, well-known in the area for their work in the local investment and real estate fields.
The first level of the new two-story facility features a gymnasium, a cafeteria with a serving kitchen, a large game room, educational space and a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) program room. The second level includes amenities to appeal to pre-teens and teenagers, including a large teen center, a teaching kitchen, an art room and a music room with a DJ booth.
Mr. Tursi said he hopes those latter features will broaden the appeal of the Boys & Girls Club to an older youth audience, a segment that’s traditionally been difficult for the club to attract.
The new facility isn’t expected to replace any current Boys & Girls Club unit sites, Mr. Tursi said. In fact, the club hopes the building will offer the ability to double the number of students served overall each day, from 300 to nearly 600.
The club established operations in a building commonly known as the former Ellis YMCA at 1501 Ellis Blvd. NW in November 1993. Founder Mike O’Deen “and a group of community advocates were inspired to provide a safe and fun place for underprivileged youth,” reads an article on the group’s history.
The Ellis facility was destroyed in the 2008 flood, and since then, the club has operated from a number of satellite locations.
Now spanning several centers in Linn and Johnson counties, the group changed its name in 2020 to the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Corridor.
