Astin Jacobo Center

The Mary Mitchell Family and Youth Center is proposing that the stimulus funds, in part, be used to fund the construction of the Astin Jacobo Center (AJC), a new, interactively green facility that not only sustains the earth but our community and our organization as well.  With this bold action the stimulus money will not only jump start the economy but lift people out of poverty through job training and job creation, fuel a movement for health and sustainable living through access to affordable, healthy food, fitness opportunities and hands-on displays of energy efficient technologies, create a physical symbol of the hope we share as Americans through the construction of a gorgeous, LEED Certified Platinum facility (something to rival the Post Offices of the WPA), and reclaim our humanity by providing the appropriate education, arts, dance and common spaces for people to thrive. (see www.astinjacobocenter.org )

The new facility will include the following components:

Green Jobs:  The AJC will both retain and create jobs.  Demolishing the existing structure and building the new “green” building will provide employment and training in green construction for over 75 people.  Once the facility is open there will be at least 30 full-time employees providing services. Because we will use the site for green job training in collaboration with the Excel Program, we can guarantee that 70 people will graduate and be employed every 18 months.  Finally, we will work with the Black Chefs Association and Just Food to create a business model for our Community Kitchen that can be reproduced allowing for individuals to get the training needed to start their own businesses. 

Sustainability Center:  The entire facility will be “green” and integrate sustainable technologies in a way that visitors (including class trips, building and home owners and neighborhood residents) can see how they work.  For instance, some walls will have plexiglass rather than wall board so that people can see different types of insulation and pipes.  The solar panels, cisterns, grey water systems, air conditioning system, and construction materials will all be accessible for people to see and understand.  We will work collaboratively with the NWBCCC Weatherization Program to choose materials and create these teaching tools and we will work with Local10 to use the space for “green” construction training.  The waste management of the building will include ostentatious recycling and composting.   The roof that will house the sustainability center will also have the science lab for the school and a greenhouse to grow food.

Community Cafeteria:  The first aspect of sustainability is taking care of our bodies.  Healthy eating and exercise are critical to this effort Crotona needs more access to healthy food.  The Center will run a community cafeteria that uses food grown in the community gardens and in our greenhouse supplemented by food from the Farmers Market and South Bronx Food Cooperative. Children and youth in the program will receive healthy meals every day and we will sell healthy meals to our neighbors.  There will be a large cafeteria for families to share meals together.   We will collaborate with other groups including La Familia Verde, Just Food and Black Culinarian Alliance (BCA) to provide healthy cooking classes, information on creating value added products and instruction in growing food for youth and adults.  We can also train people to start their own Community Cafeterias.

Fitness: The building will have a gymnasium for use by the middle school during the day and for community programs in the evening and on weekends, it will have a Dojo for our martial arts program to expand into, it will have several dance studios to accommodate Tanima Productions and the Bronx Dance Academy, and the attached baseball field will be greatly improved.  These opportunities for fitness are essential to sustaining the well-being of the residents of Crotona.

Arts:  There will be an auditorium in the building to accommodate the needs of the middle school and for use as a community theater on the weekends.  There is such a great deal of talent in our community, all we need is the right space to show it off.  The theater will also allow us to expose people in the Bronx to the wealth of live entertainment available in New York City.  In addition, there will be space to display local artist’s work in the entryway of the building.

Organizational sustainability:  This facility has several income streams for the Mary Mitchell Center including renting space to the DOE for a much needed middle school, fee-for-service activities, ticket sales for productions, and selling food.  Combined this funding will ensure that Mary Mitchell Center will never be dependant on government, private or corporate support.  While we will seek to maintain diverse funding, we will know that our basic services can be met through our own effort.

The AJC will employ hundreds of people through the construction, operation and ongoing job training, job creation and job placement programs.  Design development could resume within 30 days of receiving stimulus funding.

The total cost of the facility is not small but neither is the need.  Crotona needs the services that the AJC will provide but the nation needs to regain confidence that the government is for the people and by the people .  This project is the result of generations of people striving to make their neighborhood a better place to live.  It is that spirit of determination and common cause that will lead us out of this current depression.   This project magnifies the life of one good man to ensure the good life for many others.