Laura Young
ECB Publishing, Inc.
A $280,000 grant has been awarded to the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office, Division of Emergency Management, for retrofitting the Howard Academy library on 2nd Street. According to Director of Emergency Management Paula Carroll, the improvements will allow the building to serve as a hurricane shelter for up to 300 evacuees. When not being used as a shelter, it will be available for use as a community center. The project represents collaboration among the First Bethlehem Missionary Baptist Association (the Association), the Jefferson County School Board and the Emergency Management Office.
Pedro McKelvin, pastor of the Welaunee Missionary Baptist Church in Lamont, handles disaster relief efforts for the Association and was instrumental in bringing the various groups together.
“Over a year ago, we asked the School Board to lease [the Howard Academy campus] to us,” says McKelvin. “We want to do something for the community. I was introduced to Ms. Carroll, and we were able to get the grant.”
Carroll explained that the funds are coming from the Florida Division of Emergency Management. They will be used to improve and/or replace the windows and doors of the library building so that it will meet the wind impact standards required for emergency hurricane shelters.
Plans for using the site as a community center are being developed by the Association.
Jefferson County School District Superintendent Eydie Tricquet said that the School Board leases the historic Howard Academy property on 2nd Street for $1 per year to the Association, which has long-term plans for reviving the entire site as an educational hub and resource center. Renovating the library as a hurricane shelter supports these plans.
“This program has a way of building trust in the community,” said Dr. Alisha Bradley-Nelson, the Women's Auxiliary President for the Association. “The restoration of this facility shows that people care, and it's better when we do it together.”
Bradley-Nelson says the library building is a significant starting point because it has historical archives of the alumni and educators of Howard Academy.
“There is a reason it still remains intact and usable,” says Bradley-Nelson. “The project will maintain not only the physical facility but the legacy and commitment of the leadership and foundation of this community.”
The Association envisions the campus becoming a one-stop shop for meeting the multigenerational needs of the community. They are working to establish partnerships with organizations that already have expertise in educating and providing resources in such areas as computer literacy, financial literacy, vocational skills, music and the arts.
Sheriff Mac McNeill expressed excitement about the location and its potential to provide a safe place right where the kids are after school.
A historic site marker recognizes the importance of the Howard Academy campus on 2nd Street. It notes that construction of the campus began in 1957. In various phases up to the fall of 1970, the school served elementary, middle and high school students in the black community. The marker says that “...The establishment of this school resulted in the closure of many of the two- and three-room schools in rural areas. In addition, children had better and safer accommodations, including a spacious library, work areas for specialty classes, such as home economics and choral music-- facilities that were not available at the school on Chestnut Street. The new school also had a gymnasium and football field.” When the school district implemented desegregation in the 1970-71 academic year, the campus became the district's only middle school, Howard Middle School. The facility has been closed, however, since 2004, when the new public school on David Road was built, currently Jefferson County K-12, A Somerset Charter School.
The $280K grant will open a new chapter in Howard Academy's history. Bradley-Nelson says the project could provide a kind of “reset” for the community and sustain it for the generations to come.
Carroll says the next step involves getting bids for the work, and a cleanup day is being planned to prepare the library building for the renovations.
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