101 years strong: Peoria's iconic Carver Center reimagined, and she's the face of change

PEORIA – A lot has changed in the 101 years since the Negro Community Center, the organization that became George Washington Carver Center, was founded by The Colored Women’s Aid Club.

Created to provide a non-denominational meeting place for Black families at a time when segregation barred them from many other community meeting places, the center was established in 1922 as the Black population in Peoria was growing due to The Great Migration. According to the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, between 1910 and 1970, about six million Black people moved from southern states into northern, midwestern and western states in search of better educational and job opportunities and to escape racial violence.

"At every point of the center's growth, that's when you see growth of the Peoria population," said Pam Adams, a former Journal Star reporter who has researched the history of Carver Center extensively. "The start of The Great Migration is when the Negro Community Center was opened, and then again in the 1940s, when the Negro Community Center evolved into the George Washington Carver Community Center."

First established in a home at 108 S. Globe St., the organization moved to a larger home at 1010 Sanford in 1937 after The Colored Women’s Aid Club raised $4,500. Two years later, the club joined forces with a community-wide fundraising effort which led to the erection of the building at 710 W. Percy Baker Ave. and a name change.

During that time, the neighborhood surrounding Carver Community Center was a bustling place.

"In the 1940s, 60% or more of Peoria's black population lived between 7th street, which is now Martin Luther King Drive, Kumpf, McArthur and Jefferson," said Adams. "From the 40s to the 60s was when there was a real explosion as far as the Black population goes, and in the 1960s is when you see the center's first major expansion."

Reimagining Carver Center

In the late 1970s, Southtown, as the neighborhood was called, experienced a population decline due to urban renewal. Large swaths of homes in the neighborhoods surrounding Carver were razed. Though residents of those neighborhoods moved away and began using other community centers, Carver remained a beloved place for its extraordinary role in Peoria history. Adams wrote about that history in 2022 for The Traveler Weekly in an article celebrating the center's 100th anniversary:

"It’s hard to think of a single institution that can lay claim to nourishing as much talent and opportunity as Carver. There’s the pioneering comedian and storyteller Richard Pryor and two Olympians, both pioneers in women’s basketball, Charlotte Lewis and Carla McGee. The Rev. C.T. Vivian worked at Carver before he worked with Martin Luther King. The list goes on, filled with local legends in education, sports, arts, politics, business, law enforcement, and civil rights. Carver’s directors and staff, from the first director, Henry Harper to Joe Brown, Erma Davis, Percy Baker, and Ken Hinton, were household names who set a standard for the current director, Jacobie Proctor."

When a series of financial setbacks led to the closing of Carver in 2011, community leaders set in motion a plan to reimagine the center, and TIFF funds were allocated for a renovation

"In 2012 we did a $1.5 million renovation. We added a state-of-the-art sound system to the original Richard Pryor stage,” said Carver CEO Jacobie Proctor. "They re-organized the classrooms and the office spaces so that the building flowed — added the glass facade and extra classrooms, re-did the gym floors and moved the front entryway.”

The renovation was completed in 2014, and Proctor was hired as director in 2020. The former director of program development with the Boys and Girls Club, the Peoria native had worked in the corporate world early in her career.

"I worked at Caterpillar for a little bit, and in 2008 when they were doing rolling shutdowns, I was like, ‘you know, I don't know if the corporate world is for me.’ And I went to Atlanta and trained with Boys and Girls Club of America. Then I came back here and worked at Boys and Girls Club for 12 years,” Proctor said.

'We are a family here'

Proctor was offered the lead position at Carver during the pandemic.

"We took that dormant season while the buildings were closed because of the shutdown to really look at Carver’s programing,” she said.

Administrators looked closely at programs offered all over the community to see how Carver could help fill in gaps, Proctor said.

"We want to collaborate, not compete. It’s been our motto, and that is what we are doing. We looked at Valeska Hinton and saw they have a waiting list (for child care). And we looked at PCCO and saw they have a waiting list from 3 to 5 p.m. And we said ‘can we help with that?’ So we opened up a classroom,” said Proctor.

Child care and early childhood education are not the only programs offered at Carver, however. There are programs for people of all ages. Fitness activities happen in the facility’s large gymnasium, and a wide variety of classes help people further their skills, from job and life skills to recreational activities like crochet. Seasonal activities, like the annual Easter egg hunt, are also a big hit.

After a rough patch, Carver is alive and well, and continuing the original goal set 101 years ago by the organization’s founders to serve and nourish the community.

"We are a family here, and I think when you meet a past Carver kid, they are our family, too. When they come in they talk about the nostalgia — ‘we used to dance here, we ate here, Percy did this and Irma did this.’ I could not be a true Carver leader if I did not take this into consideration," said Proctor. “We created programs going forward, that have a lasting legacy on people. You don’t want it to be that you came in here and did some skate classes — we want it to be that you came in here and you met friends, and you met your fitness goals, and you talked to a doctor, and then you learned to skate. These are the things we try to do – we want everyone to have a meaningful experience.”

Leslie Renken can be reached at (309) 370-5087 or lrenken@pjstar.com. Follow her on Facebook.com/leslie.renken.

This article originally appeared on Journal Star: Carver Center going strong with new leader after 101 years in Peoria