New Outreach Center hopes to be ‘game changer’ for community

The nonprofit group Positive Brothers United (PBU) has some big goals. They include: Providing a computer lab to help users improve their computer skills and get jobs. Teaching life skills to young people. Setting up a community hall room to host meetings. Providing food, clothing and transportation to people in need in the community. Helping […]

The nonprofit group Positive Brothers United (PBU) has some big goals. They include:

• Providing a computer lab to help users improve their computer skills and get jobs.
• Teaching life skills to young people.
• Setting up a community hall room to host meetings.
• Providing food, clothing and transportation to people in need in the community.
• Helping battle violence in the community by offering mediation services to resolve “street beefs” before they turn to violence.

And PBU is getting some big help to realize those goals through PBU’s new Outreach Center at 3704 Ninth St., Rock Island. Dozens of business and government officials – along with community members – welcomed the Outreach Center with a grand opening and ribbon-cutting ceremony late Friday, Feb. 3. The center, the site of a former convenience store, features a computer lab on one side of the building and a community room to host meetings on the other side. The center has been in the works for at least 20 years, and PBU’s wants to use it to help improve the lives of many in the community, said Thomas White Sr., PBU secretary. Mr. White added that he hopes members of the community will use the services. “They should connect with us because we can help them. We can reach people who – as some people say – have fallen between the cracks,” he said. PBU officials said in a statement about the organization and the new center:  “We now work with at-risk male African-American youth between the ages of 8 and 18 years old, to help provide them with resources that will help them become productive members of the community. One of our greatest impacts is helping to reduce the violent crimes in the community by being the mediator through our ‘Stop the Violence’ campaign, helping to prevent incarcerations and deaths from major conflicts, i.e., ‘street beefs.’”

During Friday’s grand opening, Mr. White gave tours of the new facility to community members and government officials. For instance, before the ribbon-cutting ceremony, he showed Illinois State Sen. Mike Halpin around the Outreach Center. “This is a place where people can feel safe. … We have a lot of potential for growth. The sky’s the limit,” Mr. White said during one of those tours. Currently, the center’s computer lab has seven laptops available for use. There is also a collection of self-improvement books with such titles as “How to Become Successfully Self-Employed” and “Manage Your Time, Your Work, Yourself.” There are also five sports-themed posters in the lab, all with the theme “Game Changers.” Mr. White said he hopes the new center is a game changer for many people in the community. But he added that the people taking advantage of the services need to be serious and put in the work needed to improve their job skills. “They have to be willing to be helped. It’s not a game,” he said. Many of those visiting the Outreach Center Friday said they liked what they saw, and they also called the new facility a potential community game changer. Jeff Condit, director of development at the nearby Friendship Manor in Rock Island, praised the PBU organization for giving the old building 3704 Ninth St. new life. But most of his praise was directed at the group’s efforts to help people. “If you can reach 12 people, you’ve changed a community. If you can reach 100 people, you’ve changed the world,” he said.