Evans community center threatened with closure in wake of cash shortfall

Julia Cooper could easily get in her car, drive to corporate grocery stores like Publix or Walmart and walk the well-stocked aisles.

But instead, Cooper, who lives in the working-class neighborhood of Powell Subdivision in south Melbourne, finds joy in stepping outdoors, waving at neighbors and strolling in the cool morning air to the community market at the Evans Center.

There, she picks up to-go platters of creamy, southern-style grits, fresh-made eggs, crispy bacon and occasionally, fried fish from the deli for her family.

“I’m right down the street and the food is good. It’s a blessing to have the market here in the neighborhood,” Cooper said.

“It’s something that saves me from cooking; you get to speak to people, plus it’s good exercise.”

But it’s also a routine that could soon be interrupted if the Evans Center, at 1361 Florida Ave. at the border of Palm Bay and south Melbourne, doesn't raise $150,000 by May 15.

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Four years after the Evans Center Inc. opened its doors with a vision of providing fresh food, health services and jobs to those living in the low-to-moderate income area, the $1.5 million marketplace and community is struggling financially.

Earlier this year, the board governing the donation- and grant-driven center held two community forums to discuss news of a $150,000 gap in finances that could close the doors permanently. The funds are needed by May 15 to meet the shortfall for operations at the center, including the market, through the new year, center administrators say.

Many were shocked. Others began pledging funds. So far, just more than $30,000 has been raised since last month and an emergency fundraiser is set at the store for May 6, center officials said.

More funds are needed, say administrators, to go forward and to keep all of the center's services operational.

“We are appealing to the whole community. The Evans Center has become increasingly significant as a vibrant community hub,” said Lynn Brockwell-Carey.

She's the executive director of Neighbor Up Brevard, the community organization that banded together two decades ago to help revitalize the Booker T. Washington neighborhood in north Melbourne. Neighbor Up Brevard helped to get Evans built and opened, and all funds from the fundraisers will go to the center's operational costs, administrators say.

“It’s not just the store or the deli that people come for. The Evans Center also offers programs that people come in for, programs that raise the standard of health and help with workforce development," Brockwell-Carey said.

"But there’s always been a financial gap that we’ve needed to fill through donations and grants. We’ve done fundraising but we’ve also had to deal with the impact of COVID and inflation. The community is not asking for a handout but instead, working to further investment."

Back to the future

The Evans market has a long, storied history.

In 1965, long before megastores like Walmart or Publix built their supermarket empires, Roosevelt "Ross" Evans opened the doors to a small grocery store on the corner of Randolph and Florida streets. One former Evans board member recalled how Ross Evans used funds from three Black business owners to make it happen. The store provided residents of the community with fresh meats, deli goods and vegetables, along with a sense of place.

The neighborhood market thrived for several decades and became a gathering place — an oasis of self-sufficiency — for residents in the predominantly Black neighborhood.

Sandra Pelham, a longtime community activist whose mother ran a small grocery store just up the street for 52 years, recalled how Evans knew and understood his clientele.

“It was needed. That’s why it stuck out to me that this was a great idea to bring that store back to serve the community. We have a lot of people here that don’t have transportation,” Pelham said, adding that the store was a way of getting back to neighborhood markets of the glory days.

After Evans died, the store changed hands and eventually fell into disrepair. Members of the Powell Subdivision Neighborhood Watch program and a number of congregations began eyeing the rundown remnant of the store for a new project. They joined forces with Palm Bay police and the Brevard State Attorney's office to clear trash from the surrounding lots, where wild chickens roamed free, and to reclaim the territory from drug dealers.

The shuttered building — packed with asbestos lining — became an dilapidated eyesore but was razed and cleared in 2012. Evans Center Inc., the nonprofit board overseeing the effort to rebuild a marketplace, bought the vacant lot from Palm Bay for $10,000. The goal: to reopen the store while providing goods and services to 2,500 households where nearly 63% of residents were without cars.

By then the store had been closed for 12 years.

“We did a lot of soliciting; we went door to door to see what people wanted. We had a 20-page survey sent to residents within a one-square mile of the lot. We put in a medical center, a grocery store,” said James Bartell, former president of the Evans Center Board.

Some residents suggested a laundromat; others talked about having a grocery store.

The store lived up to some of that early vision, providing residents like Cooper a place to shop while also pouring back into the community by employing 16 workers. All of the workers will lose their jobs this month if the store shuts its doors.

“The Evans Center has been a job generator,” Brockwell-Carey noted, with a $1.1 million investment in the local economy through payroll.

Neighborhood market struggles after COVID, inflation

The store has also become a haven for children and teens, with everything from cooking classes to yoga. Older residents use the meeting space to gather and share the latest neighborhood happenings. The center — through grants — provided more than 8,000 hot meals to residents during the COVID-19 pandemic. Another 922 meals were served to children through last summer’s annual Read and Feed program, which provides books and food to youth in need.

Bartell attended the community meeting at which the $150,000 shortfall was discussed.

He was stunned.

“I didn’t know until that meeting. I really thought they were doing good. Absolutely, I think the Evans Center should be saved because of the hard work, time and effort everyone put in it to make it work,” said Bartell, who served on the board for 10 years.

Brockwell-Carey said board members were privately made aware of the anticipated shortfalls last year.

“I am so hopeful that we’ll reach our goals. We’ve seen people step right up," Brockwell-Carey said.

A number of factors came together to create the cash shortfall, Brockwell-Carey said. The 6,000-square-foot center — which has an annual operating budget of $500,000 — applied for grants and held an annual Motown fundraiser, but those efforts have not been enough, she said.

On top of all the other factors, inflation, which drove up food prices nationally for basic staples like chicken and eggs, hit the store hard just as it was emerging from the pandemic, just a year after the grocery retailer opened. Also, noted Brockwell-Carey, is the fact that an early donor’s generous donation reached its end.

Earlier this year, speculation began circulating among workers and some in the community about Evans having financial struggles. The board met in January to discuss the future of the center, inviting community leaders and others for a discussion. At another public meeting, board members were told by Brockwell-Carey more specifically of the $150,000 shortfall that could shut the center's doors.

Some, including Pelham, questioned whether the boards overseeing the center were transparent or timely enough about the troubles.

"They knew this was going on and they should have brought this to the community sooner," Pelham said.

It was a surprise, said Josephine Peterson-Hunter, who was named to the Evans board two years ago.

"I really think that’s the issue," Peterson-Hunter said. "This took the community by surprise. Now we’re facing an uphill climb."

'Uphill climb'

Evans Center Director Susan Phillips-Hardison joined the market in February 2022 and saw the opportunity to grow the community hub concept.

"I was here the other day and was just moved to see people taking up a fitness class, exercising. This is needed," Phillips-Hardison said.

The center has become a viable part of the community, something Palm Bay City Council member Kenny Johnson pointed out.

"The city made an investment into the center when it began ... it's very disheartening to see this happen," said Johnson.

Phillips-Hardison has been working to get word out about the community center's finances and the steep fundraising climb needed to meet the short deadline. She planned the May 6 farmer's market fundraiser and is hoping community leaders, ministers, business leaders and other neighbors will come out to tour the facility and to see the center's economic impact. The event runs from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday at the center.

"It's overwhelming but this can't go on without community support. I'm inviting everyone to come out to get a feel for who we are and why what we do is important. You see children who really need this. And to see these programs being put at risk is really breaking my heart," Phillips-Hardison said.

"We have to have buy-in from the community. We can't close. We can't."

J.D. Gallop is a criminal justice/breaking news reporter at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Gallop at 321-917-4641 or jgallop@floridatoday.com. Twitter: @JDGallop.

This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Palm Bay community center filled with history faces financial crisis