Published: November 08, 2009 12:12 am      

NIAGARA FALLS: Future uncertain for North End institution

The once popular youth center has been vacant for many months.

And it appears as though it is going to remain that way, at least for the foreseeable future.

The Niagara Community Center has sat vacant since 2008, when it was forced to close due to lack of funding.

Community leaders say there is interest in reviving the Center Avenue building as a home for young and old alike, but are still trying to figure out the best approach.

“I think, generally, there is enough common understanding that there is a need for something there,” said former city administrator Bill Bradberry, an advocate for reopening the center. “I think we can get just about everyone together in a room to agree that we need to do something. The question is what do we do and who should make those decisions.”

A long-standing institution in the city’s North End, the community center for years provided after-school and summer programs for children, free breakfast and lunches and a community gathering place for residents.

In the summer of 2008, two key funding sources pulled their support for the facility amid concerns about internal leadership and programming. Community center leaders received notice that year from both the United Way of Niagara and Niagara County Youth Bureau that their organizations were discontinuing financial support for the center.

The United Way of Niagara once provided roughly $38,000 to the center each year. United Way President Carol Houwaart-Diez said her organization pulled its funding for the center when it recognized that programs supported by those dollars were not being offered on a consistent basis. She said the United Way is bound by its contributors to make sure the programs it funds are being administered properly.

“We have to be responsible with the funds that are entrusted to us,” she said.

Houwaart-Diez said the United Way has been approached recently by individuals who have expressed interest in reopening the center, but she said her organization’s core concerns about the leadership structure at the center remain. She said the United Way understands the importance of the building to the community but could not consider restoring funding until it has appropriate assurances that the facility and its programming are in good hands.

“We definitely want to see the center open again, but we have to make sure they are doing quality programs with measurable outcomes,” she said.

Bradberry believes the center is a vital community resource and said it would be a shame if the building sat vacant for so long that it would fall into such a state of disrepair that it could not be reopened affordably. He said he has had some conversations with leaders from community groups and local institutions who may step forward to assist in the process of developing a long-term solution. He indicated those conversations have been exploratory in nature and he does not foresee a clear plan of action coming together until 2010 at the earliest.

“I think the fairest thing to do is get all the stakeholders together and figure out what the center should be doing, if anything” he said.

Mayor Paul Dyster said he would be supportive of plans to reopen the center and would be open to discussing the city’s role in its redevelopment with members of the council.

“I would certainly be willing to become a strong advocate for the city to become involved at the start of the process in order to get the building up and running,” he said.

Niagara County lawmaker Renae Kimble, D-Niagara Falls, served as president of the board of directors at the center up until May 2008. She stepped down after several other members quit in protest of the board’s leadership. The duties of president were assumed by local attorney Earl Key. When contacted for comment, Key told the Niagara Gazette he is no longer associated with the center. Kimble referred all questions to Zebedee Turk, whom she said is the current board president and spokesperson for the center.

Contact reporter Mark Scheer at 282-2311, ext. 2250.