Elkhart leaders see new Tolson Center as regional catalyst
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The new Tolson Center for Community Excellence would bring tears to her parents’ eyes, Princess Spencer said last week.
Her parents, Herbert and Ruth Tolson, led educational programs and activities for 15 years in the 1940s and early ’50s within the then-Booker T. Washington Community Center. They led programs serving predominantly Black youth with love, kindness and respect, Spencer said, at a time when racism ran rampant.
The longtime community leaders both died long before they could see the new center that carries their name, but Spencer said they would encourage youth to take advantage of the opportunities brought by the recently opened, free resource in south central Elkhart.
“If you don’t like the way things are going in life, you have the power to change them,” Spencer told young members in attendance at the center’s grand opening last week. “And this facility is here for you to give you every opportunity it can possibly give you.”
Overcoming ‘injustice’
Community leaders from across Elkhart joined Spencer at the grand opening last Thursday.
In a lively opening celebration, nearly a dozen speakers shared their experiences growing up with Tolson; playing pick-up basketball, attending holiday parties and competing in softball league championships. Yet, many were quick to bring up the center’s more recent history, marked by community outcry over a loss of city funding.
The new, $16 million Tolson Center, completed this winter, features two gymnasiums, an art room, dance studio, cafeteria and meeting rooms, as well as outdoor recreation areas.
It stands as a symbol of victory, Tolson Board Member Nekeisha Alayna Alexis said, after the center found itself stripped of its funding just five years ago.
Nekeisha Alayna Alexis speaks on reactions to the city’s decision in 2018 to defund the Tolson Center.
“I really wish with my whole heart that I could say that the catalyst for building this incredible structure started with love,” Alexis said last week. “No, sadly, long before the plans were drawn and the construction equipment came, the ground here was tilled by protest and by resistance and by a refusal to sit down and suffer injustice yet again.”
In 2018, the Elkhart Common Council voted to defund the center, which was then operated by the city parks department, after some city leaders questioned its financial management. The decision drew immediate protest.
“I was in that room the night when the city council decided to defund the Tolson Center,” Elkhart Chamber of Commerce President Levon Johnson said. “By the time I got to my car, I had phone calls from people from all over the city that had already gotten the news with the very simple question of, ‘What are we going to do?’”
Rebuilding Tolson
Elkhart Mayor Rod Roberson—whose younger brother was a programming director at the center and whose older brother started a summer basketball league—made investing in Tolson a central feature of his 2019 mayoral campaign. And, supporters of the center quickly convened a series of community meetings to explore alternative structures for keeping Tolson open. They decided on a not-for-profit with a diverse board representative of Elkhart County. Out of those conversations grew another big idea; rebuilding the Tolson Center.
With a changing city administration—Roberson took office in 2020 and multiple common council seats turned over—Tolson organizers found new support from local officials and secured funding for the project.
“It was quickly recognized the importance of this asset in this community and how imperative it was that a newly imagined Tolson Center be created,” said Candy Yoder, chief program officer for the Community Foundation of Elkhart County, adding, “We knew that having it owned by the community was the best solution.”
The city in 2020 directed $5 million to rebuilding the center, which first opened in 1991, and agreed to put forward $700,000 annually over 10 years for operational costs. In addition to other small, private donations, the new building also received support from a $2.6 million state READI grant, a $2 million Lilly Endowment grant and $2 million from the Community Foundation of Elkhart County.
“A project like Tolson is catalytic for the south central neighborhood and community that surrounds it,” said Bethany Hartley, president and CEO of the South Bend – Elkhart Regional Partnership, which assisted in the award of regional READI funds. “This beautiful new building represents far more than what’s contained within the walls. We aspire to see projects like this in all of our regional investments.”
Regional catalyst
The new center, at 30,000 square feet, is twice the size of its predecessor and comes as the city looks to further invest in the surrounding Benham neighborhood.
Over the summer, city leaders partnered with the University of Notre Dame’s School of Architecture to develop a renewal plan as expansions in downtown Elkhart push investment deeper into the historically Black neighborhood.
“That thread that ‘We’re going to pull through this to continue to develop what occurs in our community’ is what quality of place, quality of life is all about,” Roberson said, adding, “There is much more to come.”
The Elkhart mayor pointed to redevelopment efforts across the city, including at the once-bustling Concord Mall and Woodland Crossing shopping center.
The Tolson Center is free to everyone, including those who live outside of Elkhart city limits, though memberships are encouraged to ensure safety and get to know Tolson staff.
The center initiated a soft launch of programs this month and will pick up with more regular scheduling after the new year. It’s that programming the Tolsons’ daughter encouraged youth to seek out.
“What would my mom and dad say to you right now if they were standing here?” Spencer said. “Make the most of this opportunity. Take advantage of everything that this center has to offer to you.”
More information about the Tolson Center and its programs is available online at tolson.org.