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EDITORIAL: Empowerment Center promises to change lives

Post-Bulletin - 12/21/2017

Dec. 21--"A place where life starts again."

That's the motto on a banner at the Empowerment Center, the renovated and reimagined building that was home to Gage East Elementary for many years. The building then was vacant and as Joe Powers, who helped lead the fundraising for the project, said Tuesday, it was "a waste in our community," a resource that was being unused.

"Now, lives will be changed," Powers said, and there's no doubt that's true, judging by the people and organizations who have committed to making the center a reality.

It's at 930 40th St. NW, an adjunct to the Gage East Apartments, the 55-unit apartment building that opened just over a year ago and provides permanent housing for homeless families and youth. The Empowerment Center, which like the apartments was developed by Duluth-based Center City Housing, was planned from the beginning as an integral part of the venture, to provide supportive services for apartment residents.

Another of the catch phrases for the center is that it's "building a foundation for our children." Based on the organizations that have moved in or plan to in coming months, that foundation is well under construction. Already the building is full of young people during the day, with three Head Start and two Early Head Start classrooms operated by Families First, and Center City's TOTS program, which provides early childhood mental health respite care for families who live next door.

Next to move in will be Project Legacy, the remarkable 10-year-old Rochester program that offers "hope, training and support" to young people of color who are refugees, homeless, formerly gang-involved or recently incarcerated. At-risk young people will have access to food, shelter, clothing, medical care, educational assistance and more. Lutheran Social Service's LINK program will be there to assist at-risk and homeless young people ages 16-21, and next summer Family Service Rochester will offer mental health support programs.

The Rochester Public Schools' gymnastics program will use the building's old gym until the 2019-20 school year, and that space also was in full use Tuesday evening as the center was dedicated.

None of this would have been possible without the enterprise and ingenuity of Center City Housing, which came to town in 2009 and proposed the Silver Lake Corner residence for people dealing with chronic alcoholism and homelessness. Despite some public concerns, it opened in December 2011 and has achieved its mission since then.

Center City also has the Francis apartments downtown to assist the homeless, and thanks to the tireless leadership of Nancy Cashman, the nonprofit's supportive housing development director, the Empowerment Center now will provide services to help Gate East residents and young people throughout the city.

And none of it would have happened without the generosity of hundreds of donors, from the biggies that always step up, led by Mayo Clinic ($300,000), to the young person who "understood the importance" of the project and donated $4, Powers said. Joining Powers as an honorary chairman for the capital campaign was the Post Bulletin's former publisher, Randy Chapman.

This is the type of project -- fueled by a passion to help and a commitment to turn good ideas into reality -- that Rochester is exceptionally good at. Now comes the hard work of "changing lives," and we're confident that will happen, too.

Got a question? Send it to letters@postbulletin.com.

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