Help Build Your Community Center!

"We have the building, we have rooms to clean, paint to scrape, walls to build, and rooms to paint... what we need is the people to come and make this community center a reality."

"A community is a comprehensive set of institutions that will deliver our whole lives."- Huey P. Newton

The idea of a people's community center has been kicking around for along time. The fantasy has probably occurred to just about everyone at one time or another. Last spring some steps were taken that began to make that fantasy a reality. At that time, the Tribal Council Hard Drugs committee, in coalition with Drug Help, and some University groups, wrote a federal grant proposal to get funds for their various projects. The main thrust of the Hard Drugs proposal was a community center to act as an alternative to hard drug use. The proposal was funded, and we set out in search of a building. After long involve hassling, we have arranged to rent the old Fisher Cadillac Building from the city for two years at 750 dollars a month.

As plans presently stand, the Community Center will house the new homes for Drug Help, Ozone House, and the Free People's Clinic, (with dental services) as well as the Ann Arbor Network, the People's Ballroom, the Matrix (an alternative library) and the People's Creative Workshop. Also, there will be office space available for the Ann Arbor Journal, and possibly the Food Co-op, and the Ann Arbor Sun. It is hoped that the Community Center can work as a focus point for all the energy that exists in our Community, so that we can grow as a community and expand to meet all our needs.

The People's creative workshop will be a place to share our ideas, hopes, skills and techniques. The workshop will be designed to fulfill the needs of our community. Ceramics, photography, Tai chi, yoga, batik, dance, music, printing, carpentry, etc. are some of the things we want to have at the workshop, including classes in all of these things, as well as political consciousness groups, food classes, health care classes, and classes in all the things we'll need to know to survive as a people on the planet.

The space set aside for the peoples ballroom is roughly three quarters the size of the Union Ballroom. Things that are planned for it include lowcost music, as well as a place where musicians can practice or jam. The space will also be used for dance classes, film showings, and meeting space.

The Community Center could potentially be the finest thing to happen to Ann Arbor since the Free Concerts. All these things are in the transition stage between being plans and being reality. What is necessary is for the people in Ann Arbor to get together and work to build this center into what it could be. We have the building, we have rooms to clean, paint to scrape, walls to build, and rooms to paint. We have some of the time, and some of the energy; what we need is the people to come and make this community center a reality. The building is located at 502 E. Washington. People are there everyday from 10 to 4 at least. Drop by and see what there is to be done and what you can do. Or call the center at 663-6746. Power to the People and the People's Community Center.

Joe Tibond, Tribal Council