TALLAHASSEE, FL (WTXL) — Walter McDonald II moved to the southside of Tallahassee in the 1990s.
He said the closure of something just as important as the Providence Community Center is leaving room for missed opportunity to further educate and give involvement opportunities to the youth of southside.
"As you see with the crime in Tallahassee is going up now, and we say 'the youth don't have nothing to do. Well, this is one example,” McDonald said. “This place has been closed for three years."
McDonald said the Delta Kappa Omega Providence Community Center could have kept youth out of trouble, but COVID forced what's considered a 'safe haven' to close.
Prior to its temporary closure in March 2020, the center was a place for community meetings, after-school programs and health fairs. Stephanie King has lived in the Providence neighborhood for fifteen years and said the center could help also aid with the lack of internet access in the area.
"For the seniors like me, that's not very computer savvy, to be able to get the resources we need if we needed something,” King said. “I have heard them say there are a lot of different resources, but living here in the neighborhood, we don't know anything about it."
The Delta Kappa Omega Foundation's Executive Director Karen Miller said the community center has kept up with families in the area and moved their operations online. She said the foundation is actively working to reopen the center, but it will take time.
"Some of the community members say they are disappointed,” Miller said. “Let them know that we are too. That's why we have worked so hard to forge ahead to reopen the center."
McDonald said he wants to work with the community center when it is reopened.
"We have people right now ready to come in and help serve this neighborhood," McDonald said.
The President of the Delta Kappa Omega Foundation LeRosa Brown said they are working to clean up this building. There is no set date for when the community center could reopen to the public.
