KROC CENTER UPDATE

A community expresses its support

The Salvation Army Ray and Joan Kroc Center for Worship, Education and Arts – under construction in the Pittsburgh community of Atlanta – is expected to be completed in August 2008. The construction crew is about 80% finished with the basement level of the center, which is located on Metropolitan Parkway near Evangeline Booth College.

“The community is very excited about this building,” said Captain Marion Platt, corps officer at the Lakewood Corps who will serve as the corps community center director when it’s complete. Their excitement stems from the need that this center will meet, he said. “There are two great schools in the area with which The Salvation Army is partnering, and they have expressed a need for arts programs because they, like many schools nationwide, are losing funding for the arts.” The center will provide opportunities for artistic expression that the current neighborhood recreational facilities don’t provide.

The center will also serve as a host site for the family literacy program that’s already in place. The program runs literacy and GED programs at local schools right now, but those 55 families will be attending classes at the Kroc center once it’s finished.

One of the most important initiatives at this time, said Platt, is the need to fill positions and create jobs in the community. The Salvation Army is looking to hire a director of programming, director of operations and an administrative secretary to work with the two directors. Beyond that, one of the most-expressed community needs in the six communities (grouped into the “V” neighborhood planning unit by the city of Atlanta) surrounding the center is employment. “That’s an immediate need, and it’s a need we can fill as we’re constructing this building,” assured Platt. “We are working with the general contractor and sub-contractor to create positions that people in the community with those skills can walk up and apply for.”

Platt added that he is pleased with the support for the center, as expressed by school board members, local colleges, state representatives, schools and civic leaders. “Just about everywhere I go these days, people are asking about this building and how things are going.”