The community center will be constructed at 47th and Aspen streets and connect with the school at 48th and Fairmount near the long-proposed five-acre site at 48th and Haverford Avenue for the new Youth Study Center. The latter will replace the current children's detention center at 20th Street and the Ben Franklin Parkway that is being razed for construction of the Barnes Foundation museum.

Maintaining that it was "not fair to locate a new youth corrections facility in a neighborhood without balancing it out with a place for positive activities," Blackwell, who represents the West Philadelphia district, stalled permission for a required change in zoning to accommodate the new corrections center. "The plan has been a long time coming, but the result was worth waiting for," Blackwell said during a Nov. 29 press conference held next to the school.

PHA will build the Lucien E. Blackwell Community Center, named after the councilwoman's late husband, who also served on the city council, and the school district and the housing authority will manage it jointly. Each entity is contributing $4 million to the project; the state is kicking in $2 million; $1.5 million comes from Blackwell's third district capital funds, and the city is contributing $500,000. In addition, the city is committing up to $2 million in New River City funding for water-related infrastructure improvements in the district.

Conversion of the school into a high school requires the addition of a gym. The community center, which includes a basketball court, computer labs and gym, will be a component of the new high school during school hours and switch to community use afterwards. It will also house consolidated PHA area management offices. At the suggestion of the school district and the US attorney's office, the school will have a public safety theme with an emphasis on criminal justice education. The city is funding the detention center, and construction on all three projects will begin next year and take two years to complete.

Instant Insights /

Pact Paves Way for $49M Children's Center

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