Woodland Heights center was built on a promise. A decade later, it may finally be fulfilled

The Pensacola Parks and Recreation was awarded a nearly $1.7 million grant from the Escambia Children's Trust last week to support after-school programs for local youth at city community centers.

A portion of that funding will be used to help fulfill a promise to make the Woodland Heights Resource Center a hub of arts and culture for at-risk youth, as well as to provide programming at three other area community centers.

The city of Pensacola Parks and Recreation Department will use the grant funding to offer free after school programming for K-5 students meeting federal income criteria at four existing program venues: E.S. Cobb Resource Center, Fricker Resource Center, Gull Point Resource Center and Woodland Heights Resource Center.

The grant funding will also be used to hire a full-time out-of-school time coordinator and implement additional programming opportunities in fine arts; science, technology, engineering and math; outdoor recreation and conservation education; and behavioral support services at the at Fricker Resource Center through the CDAC substance abuse prevention and education agency.

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Teniadé Broughton, council member for District 5 where Woodland Heights is located, said she pleased they were able to secure the funding for the center and make good promises which were made to the neighborhood.

“The contribution from the Children’s Trust will finally allow us to bring arts and cultural programs that benefit the community centers in District Five,” Broughton said. “This was a goal in my campaign and I look forward to seeing it delivered.”

The Woodland Heights Resource Center was constructed in 2013 to give a predominantly Black neighborhood a place for arts and culture for children.

"That was the main focus of building that center was to take arts and culture from downtown into the neighborhood where African American kids will have a chance to learn art and culture and not just basketball and football,” Walter Wallace, president of Woodland Heights Neighborhood Association said.

Still, over the years the facility was mostly used for sports with little in the way of cultural programming. In 2019, the city put together a performing arts night at Woodland Heights with organizations that included Blues Angel Music, Pensacola Children's Chorus, Pensacola Historic Trust and Pensacola Opera.

However, the momentum of these programs was halted as COVID-19 swept across the country in early 2020.

City staff applied for the Children's Trust grant in November 2022 and the grant proposal was vetted through a selection committee twice and voted upon by the Escambia Children’s Trust Board of Directors in February 2023. The city was awarded $540,041 in the first year and will receive minor increases in years two and three to adjust for inflation.

Total grant award over three years is not to exceed $1,690,127.

The grant’s goal is to ensure accessibility and increased enrollments for after school programs, especially for low income families, by providing it at no cost to children whose families qualify for free and reduced lunch. The funding will be allocated throughout the city by Parks and Recreation from the budgets of the city council.

"We believe offering free access to these programs will increase the number of children enrolled in quality after school programming and ensure equal access to enrichment programs that are not currently available to many low-income families during out-of-school time," the city's grant proposal said. "Additionally we seek to improve students' overall well-being, confidence, school attendance, and academic performance through a variety of evidence based youth development practices used by the program."

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Escambia Children's Trust grant lifts Pensacola's Woodland Heights