St. Michaels Community Center gets $250K grant for renovation capital campaign

The A. James & Alice B. Clark Foundation is helping to support the people served by the St. Michaels Community Center with an investment of $250,000 for the nonprofit’s building renovation capital campaign.

The funding supports the community center’s total renovation of its aged building to expand community food distribution and education services, including a modern commercial kitchen for a new culinary arts and hospitality workforce development program. The building renovation is on schedule to be completed by the end of 2023. Additional charitable donations and grants are needed to close a $900,000 fundraising gap to reach the project’s $4.5 million goal.

During the year-long renovation, the St. Michaels Community Center is operating from temporary office space donated by Christ Church, St. Michaels and leased space on Talbot Streets in the former sites of Key Lime Café and Crab ‘N’ Que restaurants.

The new facility will include amenities once lacking in the original World War II-era structure that was built to be a crude lumber warehouse. There will be a second-floor clerestory for offices, operating windows, proper insulation, a functional HVAC system, handicap accessibility and more.

Future programming and functionality of the renovated community center followed opinions and suggestions by residents of St. Michaels and the surrounding areas.

The renovated center also will include equipped classrooms for after-school programs, summer camps, and adult education, along with a technology center to provide online classes offered by Chesapeake College and a home for a retail entrepreneurship training program.

SMCC anticipates doubling the number of people served after programming in the new building is operational.