City's Banneker Community Center Celebrates Centennial December 9

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 2, 2015

For more information, please contact:
Leslie Brinson, Facility/Program Coordinator, City of Bloomington Parks and Recreation Department, 812.349.3734 or [brinsonl@bloomington.in.gov|mailto:brinsonl@bloomington.in.gov]

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Bloomington, Ind. - The City of Bloomington Parks and Recreation Department invites members of the public to the 100th anniversary celebration of the Banneker Community Center Dec. 9.

Staff from the Banneker Afterschool Program will lead a ceremonial walk with participants in the Banneker Afterschool Program from the Monroe County History Center, 202 E. Sixth St., to the Banneker Community Center at 930 W. Seventh St. This walk reenacts the one students made in 1915 from the former "Colored School" to the new Banneker School.

A Centennial Celebration will coincide with the arrival of the walkers at the Banneker Community Center at 5:30 p.m. A ceremony with guest speakers will be followed by refreshments, history displays, and facility tours until 7 p.m.

"The west side of Bloomington has undergone a lot of changes in the past 100 years," said Leslie Brinson, Facility/Program Coordinator at the Banneker Community Center. "One thing that has not changed is the sense of a close-knit community, and the neighbors of the Banneker Community Center who embrace not only its history, but also its present and future as a community gathering place."

The Banneker School opened in 1915 and served as a school for African-American children for nearly 40 years. Its name was changed to Westside Community Center when it was purchased by the Bloomington Parks and Recreation Department in 1957. The facility was renamed the Banneker Community Center in 1994.

The Banneker Community Center is the home of the Banneker Afterschool Program, conducted in cooperation with Fairview Elementary School, and the Banneker Break Days program. The Banneker Community Center is also the site of Summer Food and Fun, a program that includes free, healthy meals for children and supervised, healthy activities during the summer months. The Family Resource Center on the Banneker Community Center's third floor is a free, accessible place for families with young children to gather and participate in reading, music, gardening, and other programs for preschoolers and their caregivers.

For more information about the Banneker Afterschool Program, Banneker Break Days Program, the Family Resource Center or the Evans-Porter Memorial Library, contact the Banneker Community Center at 812.349.3735.

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