West End residents question $5M in mayor's budget for St. Stephen Family Life Center

The words in Mayor Craig Greenberg's budget are simple.

Under the Louisville Parks and Recreation heading, Simmons College/St. Stephen Family Life Center is slated to receive $5 million.

That's the largest amount − by $4 million − for any one item under the parks' portion of the proposed budget.

But that's also where things get complicated.

The money isn't actually for parks. It's for a capital project at the Family Life Center, a nonprofit next to St. Stephen Church. The project would include a new 50,000-square-foot facility that will house a community center and a regulation college basketball court where Simmons College, Louisville’s only historically Black college, would practice and play games.

Some people in the community are concerned that the money isn't going to parks in the California neighborhood or the community center, which needs upgrades and sits a block away from the Family Life Center.

The Courier Journal spoke with eight residents, all with children or grandchildren who use the California Community Center. They said the building needs the $5 million because it is "falling apart" with constant issues like peeling paint, restrooms that need repairs and more.

On Wednesday, some council members also questioned the budget allocation and asked why not spend the money to improve the California Community Center.

So if the money isn't going toward the parks, why is it listed under the parks department?

The mayor's office said any money that goes to a capital project must be attached to an agency, so it was placed under Metro Parks.

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City officials said that means the parks department is strictly a “pass-through," and the parks staff and metro parks won’t have anything to do with the money.

The mayor's office also said the money is not going to St. Stephen Church or Simmons College, but is going strictly to the nonprofit Family Life Center. City officials didn't say why the budget line identifies all three as the recipient.

The Rev. Kevin Cosby is the pastor of St. Stephen Church and president of Simmons College. Cosby confirmed that the money isn't going to St. Stephen or Simmons College.

"It’s no different than money appropriated to a 501(c)(3) nonprofit all the time," Cosby said. "The question maybe needs to be asked is how many times a Black institution, primarily governed by Black people, received public funds to help the community.

"Why is that not being asked of predominately white institutions that get dollars routinely? Why is a predominately Black (institution) with a tremendous track record of serving the community − why are all these questions being asked and has it ever been asked before of predominately white institutions?" Cosby said.

Until 2019, Cosby was listed as the CEO of the nonprofit.

Ken Jobst, chairman of the board for the Family Life Center and chief quality officer for Simmons College, said the funds will go to create a college regulation basketball court for Simmons' men’s team and the nationally-ranked women’s team, as well as seating for 3,000 spectators.

"The construction of the athletic facility will also include cultural, community-oriented, community-facing activities," Jobst said.

On Wednesday, at a meeting of the city's Committee on Equity and Community Affairs where the proposed budget allocation was discussed, Jobst said the Family Life Center, which was built in 2001, has been stretched beyond its capacity.

"We have scheduling issues that come up," he said. "Different community groups that might want to be able to have a particular space, sometimes there are conflicts. The new space would allow us to expand our capacity to continue services we're already engaged in but to grow beyond our currently offered services."

Councilmembers Tammy Hawkins and Andrew Owens asked if more programming is needed, why not partner with the California Community Center and spend the money there.

"It is another option," Jobst said, " however just in terms of square footage and space, I’m sure that would be outstripped very quickly. So the primary issue that we're facing at Family Life Center is capacity. Can we grow to the capacity that the community is going to be demanding around us? And one of our primary clients is growing rapidly."

"And that's Simmons College of Kentucky," Owens said.

"That's correct," Jobst said.

The new build would alleviate scheduling issues that have forced Simmons, which has 250 students, to opt for a longer away schedule in the past because, Jobst said, the Family Life Center was not able to accommodate the home games.

"When we tilt the schedule toward away games, that means all of that revenue goes away," Jobst said. "We want to be able to capture the maximum amount of that revenue to a very popular and growing collegiate basketball program."

Kevin Trager, the mayor's press secretary, said the $5 million investment will benefit the neighborhood.

“We are proud to support this historic investment in the Family Life Center, a nonprofit organization that has been serving the residents of the California neighborhood and others in west Louisville for decades,” he said. “We’re excited to see the facility expand with a new community center and gymnasium. As the new home for Simmons College’s basketball teams, it will help our city’s only HBCU grow, while also supporting other important community organizations, such as the Boys and Girls Club, which currently has a location at the Family Life Center.”

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But some in the California neighborhood want to know why $5 million is going to what they referred to as a private community center that has a monthly membership fee of $8 per child and $10 per adult versus the city's community center, which is free.

“I want to be very clear. This is not an anti-church campaign or an anti-college campaign,” said Taylor Ryan, who lives in the California neighborhood. “This is more of a campaign for the funds to remain where the funds should be. If it’s parks and rec dollars, it should remain with the parks and rec.”

Last fall, the Parks Alliance of Louisville, a nonprofit that provides supporting funds for more than 100 of Louisville’s parks, did a study that looked at the quality of Louisville’s parks and community centers.

The Parks for All study found that the California Community Center was among the three most at-need community centers for funds to help with maintenance and repairs.

An investigation by The Courier Journal found that deferred maintenance costs for Metro Parks were more than $177 million.

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The mayor’s budget does include money for several parks department updates, such as installing new lights and cameras in Chickasaw Park, rebuilding the Algonquin pool and hiring more staff at community centers and expanding their hours at night and on the weekends.

The proposed budget goes before Metro Council for a vote on June 22.

Yahyah Huddleston's two sons, ages 9 and 10, are at the California Community Center weekly. She said she wouldn’t have the money for a membership to the Family Life Center, but her sons would benefit from more funds and activities at the neighborhood community center.

“School’s out,” she said. “They need some type of activity. I feel like that’s where a lot of the problems start because if you don’t get them engaged while they’re young, when they grow older it’s easier for them to …”

Her voice trailed off.

“They don’t have anything to engage with,” she said.

Jobst said he understands the community's concerns. "In an under-resourced community, there are many projects looking for a few dollars. So that attitude is emblematic of a community that has been disinvested over a long period of time.

"I’d like to encourage further development in the community. I believe the Family Life Center project will help bring economic development into the community."

Reach Stephanie Kuzydym at skuzydym@courier-journal.com. Follow her for updates on Twitter at @stephkuzy.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Louisville residents question $5M for St. Stephen Family Life Center