The Boys & Girls Club of Bloomington-Normal has purchased the old Trinity Lutheran Church and elementary school in the South Hill Neighborhood of Bloomington, and is scrapping plans for a new clubhouse near its current home in west Bloomington.
“There's still a lot of uncertainty around grant funding as we looked towards a vision of a new building, [a] new facility down at Sunnyside Park. It just felt like things kept on stacking on top of each other, and it became further out of reach,” said club CEO Tony Morstatter.
He said when they designed a new club building, the cost estimate was $12-$13 million. The estimate now is perhaps triple that. The club paid $1.7 million for the Trinity property.
Morstatter said when he first considered the building, his hopes were not high. He thought he would see just another old rundown building that would not meet the club's needs.
That changed.
“As soon as we walked into that space, I felt the Boys & Girls Club in that facility,” said Morstatter.
Since then, the club has developed a partnership with Trinity for a summer youth program in the same space. And he said donors to the original new clubhouse concept have been supportive. The Trinity campus will need some renovation, primarily safety features, he said, but it is in good shape overall.
“It's a beautiful building. It's a big building [53,000 square feet]. There's lots of hiding spots for kids,” said Morstatter.
There will be room for growth, though for now, Morstatter said they simply hope to relocate the existing operation.
Trinity will continue to use its sanctuary until construction finishes on a new church building on Hamilton Road. That is up to a year and a half away.
The Boys & Girls Club has been at Sunnyside for 34 years. Morstatter said the new property remains convenient for children the club serves. It’s 1.4 miles from Sunnyside and allows for greater opportunities to serve the surrounding area because it is more accessible.
“It's a block away from Main Street. It's in the South Hill neighborhood. There are tons of kids. It's not too far from Miller Park. We've got Irving Elementary. Bent [Elementary] is not too far … There are a number of bus routes that will be able to access us a lot easier,” he said.
He said there will also be opportunities to enhance partnerships with other organizations such as Home Sweet Home Ministries that operates The Bridge for unhoused residents. Morstatter said children who are unsheltered are a high priority for the Boys & Girls Club.
The club also plans to beef up its own transportation service to take kids from Sunnyside to the new space. And the club will talk with the Bloomington Housing Authority, which owns the current clubhouse property, to explore keeping the gym open there for older children. That would mean the club would have two gyms for two different age groups.
As plans to occupy the Trinity site advance, Morstatter said he wants to make sure one particular stakeholder has input into what it will look like — the children.
“The vision that we have is not only about growing and serving more youth in our community, it's about making sure that the youth in our community know that there are people here that care about them and that their voice is valued,” he said, adding before a recent donor tour, a group of about 12 kids had a walk-through as well.
They “identified where the teen space is going to be. They identified where the workout area is going to be. They want a STEM [science, technology, engineering and math] lab. A couple of them said that they wanted to clean. They wanted to mop the floors. They wanted to make sure that they had room there. They wanted to live in the church. That was a special moment and it just reassured us,” said Morstatter.
The club has planned an open house from noon-2 p.m. on April 18 for the South Hill neighborhood, Trinity Lutheran church families and Boys & Girls Club families.
Grant uncertainty
In 2024, the club lost a substantial state grant and had to cut staff a year ago. Morstatter said the funding climate remains uncertain, noting the club feels blessed to be in Bloomington-Normal.
“I feel like the community has really stepped up over the last year. Looking at sustainability, we're not going to jump and hope that there's a landing pad. We're going to make sure that, before we jump, that we have a landing pad underneath us. That way we don't end up in a situation like we did back in late 2024,” said Morstatter.
He said the federal funding landscape for the club is similar to what many nonprofits are experiencing. The government is consolidating and reducing programs that support youth programs, after-school programs, and school-related programs.
The recent draft spending plan does not create optimism.
“If they reduce from, I don't know exactly, but I think it was around $6 billion something down to about $2.1 billion, it's a $4 billion reduction in youth after-school funding opportunities,” said Morstatter. “It could mean fewer opportunities in the future.”
Even when funding is available it may have different requirements that make it difficult to apply for and get. That is similar to the recent experience of the YWCA of McLean County that was forced to shut down a four-decade-old senior volunteer coordination [RSVP] program that served 60-80 nonprofits in the community.
The Boys & Girls Club tapped into that network for some of its volunteers. Morstatter said it will be a loss for the community, though the club has other avenues to get people power.
“The various service organizations in our community, we've got universities, colleges, the students who need volunteer hours. We know that there will be a group of volunteers that we may miss out on, but overall, we feel pretty comfortable with the volunteers,” he said.
Morstatter said the club has seen similar shifts in emphasis and grant requirements at the federal level.
“There's a handful of grants we've come across in which expectations, requirements, have shifted. Nothing that's outside of our scope, but it's something that we have to pay attention to,” he said.
The club tried to keep federal aid between 25% and 35% of their operating budget. Right now it’s 15%, he said.
