West End Revitalization Coordinator Thurgood Brooks, left, stands with Lamarcus Williams, a member of WER's communications working group, at the 2023 Family Fun Day. CREDIT MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. CENTER
The effort to transform and revitalize Rock Island’s West End received a major boost from a $300,000 Quad Cities Community Foundation grant designed to help residents “drive big change” in the once-vibrant neighborhood. With this three-year, $100,000 a year major gift, the Community Foundation joins John Deere and the City of Rock Island as foundational […]
The effort to transform and revitalize Rock Island’s West End received a major boost from a $300,000 Quad Cities Community Foundation grant designed to help residents “drive big change” in the once-vibrant neighborhood.With this three-year, $100,000 a year major gift, the Community Foundation joins John Deere and the City of Rock Island as foundational pillars of West End Revitalization. That's a unique homegrown effort driven by local stakeholders seeking to renew and grow the historic neighborhood.“The Transformation Grant is built by donor contributions to our Quad Cities Community Impact Fund,” Sue Hafkemeyer, the Community Foundation’s president and CEO, said in a release announcing the gift today, Jan. 8. “The grant is awarded to organizations who can drive big change. We know the MLK Center has the leadership, knowledge and vision to make the most of this grant.” Since 2015, the Community Foundation’s Transformation Grants have invested more than $1.5 million, Ms. Hafkemeyer said. “The generosity of our donors is creating real change that will improve lives in the West End and ripple through the entire region for years to come.” The Martin Luther King Jr. Center in Rock Island will receive the grant the community foundation said is designed to ensure the community-driven initiative has the capacity to succeed and act as a model for other neighborhoods and cities.According to Kaleigh Trammell, interim director of grantmaking and community initiatives at the Community Foundation: “The MLK Center’s dedication to collective impact and to using this grant to lift up other organizations is critical. They’re the backbone of this project, meaning they’ll use their leadership and credibility to bring more collaborators into the effort.”
RI ‘thrilled’ by investment
Among those celebrating the transformation grant today is Rock Island Community and Economic Development (CED) Director Miles Brainard.“The CED Department, which has been a supporter of the West End revitalization effort from the beginning, is thrilled to see the news about this grant,” he told the QCBJ. “This goes to show that the Quad Cities community overall cares about the viability and vibrancy of West End neighborhoods. Hopefully as the effort evolves and takes shape, ever more partners will step forward to offer their support.”Launched in 2022, the West End Revitalization effort’s ambitious goals are to build wealth, power, and livability in the West End community. Lynda Sargent“It’s a comprehensive approach,” said Thurgood Brooks, West End Revitalization coordinator. “Collectively, we envision the possibilities of better sidewalks, greater broadband access, more affordable housing, and entrepreneurial investment. It requires that residents, businesses, nonprofits and the government all talk and work together.”'The plan’s leaders include residents such as Lynda Sargent who know what the community once was and what it can be again. “We are made up of teachers, nonprofit workers, and people working in the immigrant and senior communities. It’s a diverse and dynamic group,” she said in the foundation news release. “I grew up in this neighborhood, and I have seen what it looks like when it thrives. We now have the people, the passion, and the resources to help it to thrive again.” Joining her on the seven-member steering committee is Avery Pearl, assistant director of the TMBC Lincoln Center in Davenport.Rock Island West End. CREDIT MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. CENTER
Project has power to transform
"While I don't call Rock Island home now, my passion for the West End Revitalization runs deep. Having witnessed redlining's impact on communities like Watertown (East Moline), my childhood home, I believe in the transformative power of this project,” Mr. Pearl told the QCBJ in an email.“My commitment to the West End is unwavering, not just because Rock Island was once a place I called home, but because it represents a brighter future for all of us. It's about building a stronger, more vibrant Quad Cities, and that's a cause worth fighting for,” Mr. Pearl said.He added: “The QC Community Foundation’s $300,000 transformational grant will significantly advance the work happening in West End Rock Island, but it also sets the tone for the rest of the community. The time for change is now; we need every capable hand helping."Mr. Pearl continued: “Investing in urban areas like the West End is about more than just Rock Island. It’s about the Quad Cities' collective strength. When all areas thrive, the entire region benefits. The West End Revitalization plan begins a broader urban revitalization movement that holds immense potential for every Quad Citizen.”“Our urban communities are ‘opportunity deserts’ yearning for investment,” he added. “The housing and land work group saw firsthand, through decades-old community plans, the seeds of this work sown long ago. It's time to reap those seeds and change the narrative, making the Quad Cities an equitable place for all. The revitalizing of the West End isn't a solo act – similar efforts, including work done by the Watertown Community Empowerment Coalition, are flourishing across the region.”Mr. Brooks said the community foundation gift also can “help establish the seriousness of the moment and the urgency” needed to achieve the West End plan’s mission.
Foundational funding key
“One thing we have heard from the inception of all this has been concern from the community in the West End that things like this have seemingly been tried before and those efforts did not bear the fruit of the work that was put in and the hopes that were put out,” he said. That can be attributed, in part, he said to lack of financial investment and community buy-in.That’s why foundational funding from John Deere and the Community Foundation major gift is so important, Mr. Brooks said. “It will show the community that we’re putting money behind those words.”Nate ClarkJohn Deere Foundation President Nate Clark, an early West End Revitalization supporter, lauded the community foundation's commitment to the West End.“The team at the Quad Cities Community Foundation is unique in the region – they invest deeply and thoughtfully in nonprofit organizations and initiatives with the potential to sustainably improve the quality of life for those in our region,” Mr. Clark, who is also global director of corporate social responsibility for John Deere, told the QCBJ in an email. “Their approach is powerful. They maintain both an intense focus on positive impact as well as an open-mindedness to learning from nonprofit and other community experts on ways they can accomplish more,” he added. “In these ways, the Quad Cities Community Foundation is a role model for donors and nonprofit organizations alike.”Mr. Brooks and other West End leaders hope the gifts from major Quad Cities players will leverage more support.“Considering that we’re getting this and we haven’t even completed the plan, it’s rather exciting about the prospect of what we’ll be able to do,” Mr. Brooks added.
What comes next?
It also raises a welcome question, he said: “With the reputation that John Deere has you couple that with the Community Foundation who else may be excited to jump on board?”Thurgood Brooks“The passion is there,” Mr. Brooks said. Now “it’s about channeling that passion behind strategic thinking.” Real progress has been made there as well, he said. “Our plan is to have the final plan completed at the end of February and we are on schedule if not a little ahead of it.”But that will mark the beginning, not the end of an effort that Mr. Brooks said could impact generations to come. “There is ample data to show what things like that mean to the development of children as they grow; what’s next to them outside when they walk out their door, what they have available to them when they walk down the street,” he said.Making a lasting difference requires both planning and action, he added.In July when the Martin Luther King Center brought all of the work group members together behind this effort, Mr. Brooks said, “There was accountability that was taken to understand that we not only have a responsibility for the planning stages, but once planning stages are complete to see it through.”
West End Committee:
Leading that effort are West End Revitalization Steering Committee members:
Isaac Carr – owner of Trucker NIC Logistics & Events Decor LLC and a member of the Quad Cities Alliance for Immigrants & Refugees; organizer of the Quad Cities World Soccer Tournament; QC Liberian Community; and current national vice president of Grand Gedeh Association in the Americas' Inc.
Vanessa Taylor – Rock Island High School educator for 31 years, chapter leader for Royal Neighbors of America, and founder of FAIR Chance (Families Achieving Independently and Responsibly).
Avery Pearl – Assistant director of the TMBC Lincoln Resource Center and a member of the QC Empowerment Network.
Tee LeShoure – Director of community violence intervention and engagement for Family Resources and president of QC PRIDE INC.
Lynda Sargent – Founder, president and CEO of Heart of Hope Ministries; and member of the Rock Island County NAACP; Faith & Blue, made up of ministry leaders and area police chiefs; and the Quad Cities Open Network.
Marisa Cantu – Community education marketing advocate for the Illinois Iowa Center for Independent Living; Community Caring Conference Board of Directors, and member of the NAACP, LULAC and the QC Council on Community Services.
Rita Jett – Behavioral interventionist for the Rock Island/Milan School District, member of FAIR Chance and Soles for Children, and a Royal Neighbors chapter leader.
“The Transformation Grant is built by donor contributions to our Quad Cities Community Impact Fund,” Sue Hafkemeyer, the Community Foundation’s president and CEO, said in a release announcing the gift today, Jan. 8. “The grant is awarded to organizations who can drive big change. We know the MLK Center has the leadership, knowledge and vision to make the most of this grant.”
Since 2015, the Community Foundation’s Transformation Grants have invested more than $1.5 million, Ms. Hafkemeyer said. “The generosity of our donors is creating real change that will improve lives in the West End and ripple through the entire region for years to come.”
The Martin Luther King Jr. Center in Rock Island will receive the grant the community foundation said is designed to ensure the community-driven initiative has the capacity to succeed and act as a model for other neighborhoods and cities.
According to Kaleigh Trammell, interim director of grantmaking and community initiatives at the Community Foundation: “The MLK Center’s dedication to collective impact and to using this grant to lift up other organizations is critical. They’re the backbone of this project, meaning they’ll use their leadership and credibility to bring more collaborators into the effort.”
