The Center for Black Excellence and Culture will serve as a landmark for the Black community, connecting Black talent and cultivating opportunities for Black culture, history, and innovation.
The multi-level facility will establish programming initiatives for mental wellness and the arts and help youth engage in STEM-related learning opportunities.
Dr. Alexander Gee, pastor for fountain of life Covenant Church which is next to the future site of the center stated in an interview with 27 News that, his dream was to develop a safe space for black residents to have a sense of culture identity.
“What this means for the Black community is a chance to live longer and healthier lives, but it’s also a chance to model for our children and grandchildren that we can build something that honors our legacy and our strength and that our stories are not just about slavery and brokenness and poverty and trouble, but our stories are really about resilience and beauty,” said Dr. Gee.
During the groundbreaking, Dr. Gee thanked public officials, local businesses, foundations, and the community for their support in raising funds for the center. To date, he said his team had raised more than $28.5 million dollars in funding to build the center and reaching that benchmark has made them just $2.5 million dollars away from having a debt-free facility.
Representative Shelia Stubbs (D-Madison) spoke at the groundbreaking. Stubbs says she’s grateful to see continued investment in her district of South Madison.
“It feels good finally, to know that we have a place that we can come to and feel safe to talk about our history,” Stubbs said. “We don’t have Black history as a part of our curriculum in the state of Wisconsin yet, but with this center, I know we’re going to have the right partners to help us move the agenda across, because Black history is American history.”
Dr. Gee said that the ceremony taking place on Juneteenth, a holiday that marks a period in history when freedom reached all enslaved African Americans across the country, was symbolic as the center that will look back to and celebrate the accomplishments of Black people for generations.
SOURCE: wkow.com