Two years after opening on Bloomington’s west side, the Jefferson Street Community House will soon be closing its doors.
The Community House, 828 W. Jefferson St., will be put on the market and sold, said Mid Central Community Action (MCCA) Executive Director Deborah White.
“I think it was successful and I think it served its purpose,” White told GLT on Monday. “And the main reason I think that is because the residents are telling us they don’t need the walls anymore. And they’re telling us they still want to have a voice and have a vision.”
MCCA opened the Community House in June 2017 in what the city described as a high-crime neighborhood. That opening came despite concerns from some who feared Bloomington Police would use the home to simply make more arrests in a more impoverished part of the city. Police said its work there focused on community relations and enhanced public safety.
Since it opened BPD has mostly hosted and attended events at the Community House, said BPD spokesperson John Fermon. Those events will simply be moved to other locations in the area, he said. Project With A Cop, for example, was previously held at the Community House; it will be moved to the Boys & Girls Club in Bloomington and be slightly reworked, Fermon said.
The most valuable part of the Community House, Fermon said, was the strengthening of relationships between BPD and the other organizations who used the space.
“That’s kind of been the best thing we’ve gotten out of it—is that we can reach out to the other organizations in the city who already have great connections with everybody in the city,” Fermon said.
The Community House was one of 13 homes that MCCA acquired using state grant money aimed at rehabbing (and then selling) distressed properties, White said. MCCA got an exception from the state to use some of the money for the Community House, part of a broader neighborhood safety and relationship-building strategy, White said. But that exception always required the home to eventually be sold with the 12 others, she said.
The grant period is coming to an end, and it’s time to sell, White said.
“The point is that Jefferson Street Community House was never meant to stay a Community House. It was meant as one strategy to help people connect in the neighborhood. But we always had that original grant requirement to sell the home to preferably a first-time homebuyer,” White said.
The Community House’s success can be measured in many ways, White said. Around 630 residents attended events there, she said.
“MCCA is not going anywhere, and the longstanding partnership between MCCA and the Bloomington Police Department which goes way back to our domestic violence days is still strong, still important,” White said.
People like you value experienced, knowledgeable and award-winning journalism that covers meaningful stories in Bloomington-Normal. To support more stories and interviews like this one, please consider making a contribution.
