Cameron Bren
Tutor Chris Johnson, top left, helps students with homework at the neighborhood center.
Annita Alejandro sits in a room packed with 10 kids and 10 adults in what used to be a modest-sized apartment living room.
Alejandro travels from the far west side to bring her second child to the Los Niños Primeros preschool program at the Bridge-Lakepoint-Waunona Neighborhood Center. She says the program helped her first child get the classroom routine down before starting school.
The cozy atmosphere has its benefits, but parents and center staff say that it would be great if there were more space to accommodate more families.
They should soon get their wish as organizers are now seeking input from the broader community to redesign the center.
“It is going to be a different type of community center than we have had in the past,” says Rebecca Ressl, the center’s development director. “We will continue to provide the social services we currently are offering along with all the high quality youth programs, but I think we can take it a step further, and make sure that we are a gathering space for everyone in our community.”
The center’s services are in such demand that it draws people from all over the region, Ressl says. “We have people from outside Dane County coming to use programs on a daily basis because the Latino Family Resource Center and the Los Niños Primero bilingual early childhood program are really one of a kind,” she says. “And then our food pantry is so essential for families that they come from all over to use it.”
The BLW Center opened in the early ‘90s in the lower level of an apartment building at 1917 Lake Point Drive. The center remains in that space, but expanded into another building across the street, where youth programming is located.
In 2003, the center struggled after its board disbanded and its executive director quit. But Vera Court Neighborhood Inc. — which had just opened a neighborhood center on the north side — stepped in to run the BLW center at the request of city officials. In August, the city formally selected Vera Court to spearhead the redesign, says Tom Solyst, executive director of both Vera Court Neighborhood Inc. and BLW.
Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway reallocated $2 million in funding for the redesign in the 2020 capital budget, which is scheduled to be finalized by the Common Council in November. A fundraising campaign is also gearing up.
The apartment building at 1917 Lake Point would be demolished for the center, which would also utilize an adjacent parking lot and playground. It would then vacate the building at 1910 Lake Point.
Ressl is happy the redevelopment is gearing up, because many people are now going unserved. The programming schedule is full, there’s a waiting list for the center’s early childhood program, and people are requesting more programming. “It is full, there is no room for community members to rent out the space for parties or use for book clubs or [language classes] or a yoga class,” Ressl says.
Ressl says the one multipurpose space is active starting at 7 a.m. each day and sees a variety of uses, including meetings, English language and GED classes, a senior knitting club and youth programming. It’s also busy on the weekends. There’s interest in using the space for fitness classes, baby showers, birthday parties, a quiet reading room, and as a place where neighbors can simply hang out and socialize.
The need for community space has shaped the theme of the capital campaign, which is called “The Gathering Place.” The tagline is “Our Community, Everyone’s Home.”
The first two listening sessions, held in October, focused on what programs and services people want. The next two sessions — Nov. 6 at 6 p.m. and Nov. 22 at 3 p.m., both in the current center — will be led by an architect to focus on the building’s design. The architect will then draft designs and bring them back for review in either December or January.
Ressl says classrooms, offices, multipurpose rooms and a commercial kitchen will definitely be included. She hopes other, unique spaces, will emerge. She points to community centers that created tailor-made spaces: a recording lab at Lussier Community Education Center; a stage at East Madison Community Center; and a fitness center and cafe at Goodman Community Center.
“I really want some creative, out-of-the-box ideas,” Ressl says. “Bring us your craziest ideas.”
