New facility planned for Boys & Girls Club of the Corridor

The Boys & Girls Club of the Corridor will cap off a $9 million capital fundraising campaign with the construction of a new, 19,000-square-foot facility in southeast Cedar Rapids, club officials announced July 29.

The new facility will be located next to the First Congregational United Church of Christ, at the intersection of Washington Avenue and 16th Street SE. The church itself has housed the Boys & Girls Clubโ€™s South Unit since 2004.

The new facility will also be directly across from the Johnson STEAM Academy Magnet School.

John Tursi
John Tursi

John Tursi, the clubโ€™s executive director, said he hopes to break ground on the new facility this fall and complete construction by the fall of 2023, coinciding with the clubโ€™s 30th anniversary.

To meet that timetable, Mr. Tursi said the club needs to reach the โ€œfinish lineโ€ of the capital campaign by early fall.

โ€œQuite frankly, itโ€™s gone very well,โ€ he said. โ€œWeโ€™re now near the end, and this is where we need the biggest amount of help.โ€

The new facility, which will also serve as the clubโ€™s new headquarters, will be known as the Boys & Girls Club of the Corridor Busse Unit. Itโ€™s being named for the LaVern and Audrey Busse family, well known for their work in the local investment and real estate field.

The capital campaign, dubbed โ€œUnlocking the Future,โ€ has raised about $8.2 million of its overall $9 million goal, Mr. Tursi said. The project began with a $7.5 million budget, but costs have increased significantly since its inception, he noted, leading to the overall $9 million campaign goal.

Local history

The campaign is a key step in the local history of the Boys & Girls Club, which established operations in a building commonly known as the former Ellis YMCA at 1501 Ellis Blvd. NW in November 1993. Founder Mike Oโ€™Deen โ€œand a group of community advocates were inspired to provide a safe and fun place for underprivileged youth,โ€ reads an article on the groupโ€™s history. 

The site provided both a headquarters and a center for recreational activities. An indoor pool at the facility was closed in 1997, and the group then changed its formal name to the Boys & Girls Club of Cedar Rapids, serving about 45 youth daily, mostly in the Ellis neighborhood.

In 2004, the club partnered with the First Congregational United Church of Christ to establish its first satellite location, known as the South Unit, and expand its services to youth on the cityโ€™s east side.

The standalone Ellis Boulevard building was destroyed in the cityโ€™s devastating June 2008 flood, with water rising three feet into the second-floor gymnasium. After that facility was demolished in 2012, the club transitioned to an outreach model, opening the clubโ€™s Hoover Unit at St. Markโ€™s Methodist Church, 4700 Johnson Ave. NW; the Olivet Unit at Olivet Presbyterian Church, 237 10th St. NW; and the Taylor Unit at Maranatha Bible Church, 526 Third Ave. SW.

Corridor-wide reach

The club has also expanded its reach outside Cedar Rapids. The Iowa City Unit opened in 2016 at Faith Academy, 1030 Cross Park Ave. in Iowa City, as part of a partnership with the University of Iowaโ€™s Phi Kappa Psi fraternity. The Marion Unit opened in 2019 at the former Marion Home School, now known as the Marion Youth Center, at 440 S. 15th St., the culmination of a series of meetings with a coalition of more than 20 non-profit agencies known as the Marion Youth Coalition that sought to address after-school needs for Marionโ€™s youth.

Now spanning Linn and Johnson counties, the group changed its name in 2020 to the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Corridor, and now provides services to an estimated 300 young people daily via a central administrative office at Mercy Medical Centerโ€™s Sister Mary Lawrence Community Center, 420 Sixth Street SE.

Still, Mr. Tursi said, club leaders felt there was a need to establish a new standalone facility they could call their own, and a feasibility study was launched in September 2019.

โ€œThe study came back very positive,โ€ Mr. Tursi said, โ€œso we started looking into a capital campaign.โ€

Pandemic hastens need

The need became even more apparent when the club was forced to suspend services in early 2020 with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Mr. Tursi noted.

โ€œThat really cemented the need to have our own facility, because quite frankly, we could have stayed open (during the pandemic),โ€ he said. โ€œThere are a lot of clubs throughout the United States that stayed open. We did the best we could, and I take nothing away from what we did, but we knew if we had our own facility, we could have stayed open. Maybe we couldnโ€™t have served all the kids, but we could have handpicked (those) that really needed us to be there, so they could get homework done and stay up with their studies.โ€

The capital campaign was launched in September 2021, and was buoyed when the First Congregational United Church of Christโ€™s leaders proposed a location for the new club.

โ€œWe knew that they had to build a parking lot next to the church, so we went and talked to them,โ€ Mr. Tursi said. โ€œand before I could even get the words out, Pastor Melanie (Van Weelden) said, โ€˜John, the reason we bought up all those other houses was so you could build a Boys and Girls Club on the property.โ€™โ€

The new facility isnโ€™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.

Expanded vision 

As plans for the new facility unfolded, Mr. Tursi said his vision of the future was dramatically expanded.

โ€œIโ€™m not a very spatially aware person,โ€ he said. โ€œSo when we first approached the church, I was just hoping to get a gym. I thought โ€˜weโ€™re just going to put up a steel-sided gym, because weโ€™ve got everything else in the church.โ€™ And when we started meeting with the architects, they were saying, โ€˜what are you talking about? Thereโ€™s all kinds of space here. Letโ€™s get you a whole facility.โ€˜โ€œ

The new facility will be constructed on two levels. The first level will feature 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 will feature 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 thatโ€™s traditionally been difficult for the club to attract.

โ€œWe want to serve more teens, so weโ€™re really trying to  appeal to them,โ€ he said, adding that one scenario under consideration would keep the center open an extra hour or two for teens, after the clubโ€™s younger clients leave.

โ€œWe tell everybody weโ€™re (serving kids) five to 18 years old,โ€ he said, โ€œbut the reality is weโ€™re five to middle school. And the kids we keep in middle school are the kids that weโ€™ve had huge success with. We ended up making them junior staff Career Development leaders, and thatโ€™s how we keep them โ€” they get a job and they stay with us. Thatโ€™s been such a successful program. Four out of our six units are actually run by people that went through the junior staff Career Development program. Thatโ€™s a huge program for us, and itโ€™s a way we try to keep the older kids.โ€

Partnerships forming

Mr. Tursi also noted he hopes the clubโ€™s facilities can be made available during day hours for use by the Johnson STEAM Academy, the church, or other community groups. Partnerships are already being negotiated with Tanager Place and the Young Parents Network, and others could be formed as well, he said.

โ€œIt would be a shame to have a gymnasium or a computer lab (sitting empty) that could be used by somebody during the day,โ€ he said. โ€œPeople could come in and further their education. Weโ€™re looking for all kinds of partnerships. We want this to be a true community facility.โ€

Leaders of the capital campaign committee said theyโ€™re excited for the possibilities the new facility will provide.

โ€œThe opportunity that Boys & Girls Club provides to the youth in our community to help them learn to succeed, both today and well into the future, is more important now than ever before,โ€ said Kingโ€™s Material president Charlie Rohde. โ€œThis magnificent project will help build better lives for so many. It is an honor for us to participate in this project.โ€

โ€œBusinesses used to look at projects like this through the lens of public safety โ€” keep the kids busy in hopes they donโ€™t get in trouble,โ€ added Doug Neumann, executive director of the Cedar Rapids Metro Economic Alliance. โ€œToday, many think about projects like this through the lens of future workforce pipeline โ€” teach the kids skills and show them the advantages of this community, in hopes they take a job someday at an area company.

โ€œThis project works on so many levels,โ€ he added. โ€œIt will strengthen the neighborhood, the school, the church and a future generation of workforce. And I think thatโ€™s why the Boys & Girls Club has seen such strong support from the business community for this project.โ€

Furthering clubโ€™s mission 

The Boys & Girls Clubโ€™s services in five core program areas โ€” character and leadership, education and career development, health and life skills, the arts, and sports, fitness and recreation โ€“ are designed to reinforce the mission of giving their clients the skills they need to succeed in the career and professional world.

The new center, Mr. Tursi said, will help the club further its mission in all five areas well into the future, and prepare its clients for that future in the process.

โ€œItโ€™s been great to have the partners weโ€™ve had (with the service units), but itโ€™s time for our kids to have something nice,โ€ he said. โ€œNot only is it going to provide more opportunity for our kids, but itโ€™s going to provide our older kids more opportunities. I think itโ€™s the next step in how Boys & Girls Club grows for the future. This is just the first step for us getting into bigger and better things. As much as going to college is a great thing, for many kids, itโ€™s not really their aspiration. So, letโ€™s find out what they can do and still be a productive person in our community.โ€ 

Unlocking the Future Campaign
Top Donors
Busse Foundation
Hall-Perrine Foundation
Anonymous Foundation
Linn County ARPA
City of Cedar Rapids
Chris & Suzy DeWolf
Wayne & Nan Kocourek
Jared & Carol Hills
MidAmerican Energy
New Leader Manufacturing
Brimmer Foundation
Transamerica Foundation
Terry & Marjorie Bjornsen
Optimists Club of Cedar Rapids, Tuesday Noon
TrueNorth
GreenState Credit Union
Charlie Rohde
Cedar Rapids Bank & Trust
PJ & Malora Cosgrove
Dakota Red Corporation
Gary Rozek
United Fire Group
World Class Industries

Campaign Committee Members
Charlie Rohde
Patrick Cosgrove
Mike Foley
Tim Kortemeyer
Doug Neumann
Kenn Nye
Dale Todd
Rev. Melanie Van Weelden