The Boys and Girls Club of Dane County has reached an agreement with the City of Sun Prairie to go ahead with funding a community center in Sun Prairie that will serve youths and families. The community center, which will include a daycare providing services for over 175 kids, will be launched on the site of the former Peace Lutheran Church on the 200 block of Windsor Street in Sun Prairie. The agreement was unanimously approved by the Sun Prairie City Council last night.
It has been a long and arduous journey for the BGCDC to open its first brick-and-mortar building outside of the City of Madison. Since April, the Boys and Girls Club has been working with community members and the Sun Prairie City Council to craft a funding agreement for the new center.
Rod Mitchell, interim CEO of the Boys and Girls Club of Dane County, told Madison365 that it has been worth all of the work he and others have done.
“It was tough and time consuming,” Mitchell said of the process. “But it all worked out in the end. We’ll have a daycare center in the mornings and work with Elementary School kids. We’ve partnered with Prairie Phoenix Academy to provide services with high schoolers.”
At previous city council meetings, some residents expressed concerns about large numbers of youth congregating in the neighborhood, some referring to Boys and Girls Club students as “these people.”
The funding will be in the form of a $150,000, zero-interest five year loan from the City of Sun Prairie as well as a grant in the amount of $50,000. The City funding will only cover a portion of the estimated $1.4 million cost to purchase and renovate the building.
