Ear Hustle

Local Youth Center Developer Uses Her Own Funds To Open It Only To Be Evicted

EarHustle411 and the writing staff are flabbergasted as what is happening with this much needed community center in Chicago.  Beyonca Johnson and a friend worked diligently utilizing well over $250k in personal funds to open the Bronzeville Dream Center in 2015.  The center is located at 1013 E. 43rd St in Chicago.  This center has been a welcomed safe haven for youth to retreat to.  According to Ms. Johnson’s Facebook page, she posted that she will be evicted from the space in 15 days as of last Tuesday.  There has been a Go Fund Me set up to help raise the requested amount of $50,000. However that’s just a temporary fix, the center is going to need more than that just to keep going.  EarHustle411 finds to be very interesting is this is a 501c3 organization meaning it’s a not for profit entity.   We are pretty sure the ladies have applied for grants to help maintain the youth center, so the question that comes to mind is very simple…why hasn’t anyone stepped up to help keep this place opened?  How come this center has not been awarded any grants to function?

There’s all this talk about what is needed to help the community and the youth, well here it is staring people in the face and it’s existence is in jeopardy of being wiped out…WHY IS THAT?

Bronzeville Dream Center

Photo Credit: Bronzeville Dream Center

Not pointing any fingers but it’s no secret that the problems going in in Chicago could be one factor why no one has stepped up.  The Bronzeville area is a hot ticketed area and some people may not want the community center to survive because with it being gone that means the kids it serves will be gone as well.  Maybe and maybe not!!

At $10,000 a month to maintain not to mention all of the hard word put into the center for the occupants to be evicted, seems like the owner of the building is the only one cashing in.  Looking at the photos of the remodeling and fixing the place up (which they cannot remove) getting it up to code to make it habitable for occupancy.  Then there’s all the bells and whistles needed for the children to be engaged with from computers to entertainment centers to desks and chairs.  From what we can see The Bronzeville Dream Center was well equipped with the tools necessary to get the youth on track to success, but something surely isn’t right with this.  There’s more to this than money because of course any funds donated to the center are tax-deductible, maybe because the people the center services is about 80% African-American and 90% males, well that’s all we’ll say bit that.

There’s still time left to save the Bronzeville Dream Center.  The owners are asking for donations to meet their $50,000 goal.  Click here to make a donation to help save this much needed community center.   EarHustle411 and the writing staff hopes this center can be saved all that needs to happen is for someone, an organization seeking to invest or perhaps the community to step up and do something.

Take a look at the Facebook post Ms. Johnson posted previously:

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