Lincoln’s cultural centers are as diverse as the people they serve. But soon enough, they’ll share one roof.
The Cultural Centers of Lincoln, a nonprofit started in 2019, will soon begin construction on a new, 62,000-square-foot building near 22th and Y streets that will house space for the city’s cultural centers.
“It’s not just one cultural center, but it’s multiple cultural centers,” said Tom Randa, executive director of the Good Neighbor Community Center who serves on the board of directors for the collaborative. “And we’ve used the concept of the mall. If you want to go buy shoes at the mall, you have options.”
The Cultural Centers of Lincoln building, 949 N. 22nd St., will include spaces dedicated to four organizations: The Asian Community and Cultural Center, El Centro De Las Américas, the Malone Center and the Good Neighbor Community Center.
Construction on the building will start after the groundbreaking Wednesday and is expected to take about 18 months, Randa said. The land for the project is on a plot owned by the university. An ongoing capital campaign will raise money for construction, which is estimated to cost about $19 million according to a building permit.
Both the Asian Community and Cultural Center and El Centro De Las Américas are planning to fully move into the new building. The center’s current spaces are near the intersection of 44th and O streets and Third and O streets, respectively.
The Good Neighbor Community Center will continue to have its own location near the corner of 27th and Y streets, but will also have its Healthy Food Distribution Center in the new building.
The Malone Center is constructing a new facility at 2032 U St., but the combined cultural center will eventually house the Malone Center’s early childhood space.
Meanwhile, the Ponca Tribe of Nebraska and Indian Center Inc., which are founding members of the Cultural Centers of Lincoln, may also use community spaces in the new center.
The building will also have a cafeteria, art gallery and meeting rooms and classrooms. In addition to space for the cultural centers, there will be 18 rentable spaces, four of which the state Department of Health and Human Services has already claimed.
Lincoln’s cultural centers have been meeting together since 1999, but about six years ago, the organizations started exploring ways to pool their resources and tackle new demand, Randa said.
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“While the people we saw was going up, the resources (were) about the same,” Randa said. “Our buildings were deteriorating.”
The centers, many of which have facilities that were built in the ’50s and ’60s, decided to collaborate on the new building.
Additionally, the centers have worked together on several grants and services, including a minority health initiative project, said Sheila Dorsey Vinton, the executive director of the Asian Community and Cultural Center.
The building will also address other issues, like a lack of space.
“We had a space issue with regards to places to offer programming, like always competing and fighting over space,” Dorsey Vinton said. “And also just staff having enough room to do their job while maintaining client confidentiality and not like being too noisy when you’re talking on the phone.”
The Asian Community and Cultural Center’s new home will have more office space and areas for therapy and mental health support, she said.
Dorsey Vinton said she and her staff have been excited about the cafeteria space and its potential to be rented out for potlucks for the community, along with the art gallery, which she said could feature immigrant artists.
The new building comes on the heels of renovation work by the cultural centers. During an August presentation about a Community Health Endowment effort, Randa said there are improvements happening at the Good Neighbor Center and the Indian Center.
John Goodwin, the Malone Center’s executive director, said cultural centers drew inspiration from organizations like the Tri-Faith Initiative in Omaha, which houses space for Jewish, Christian and Muslim groups under one roof.
The cultural center started meeting and dreaming of something similar in Lincoln, Goodwin said.
Goodwin said he is excited to be a part of the project — the Malone Center has a waitlist for its current child care center, something he hopes won’t exist when they move those services to the new building.
“It takes a village,” Goodwin said. “It takes more than just one agency to do what we need to do here in the community and outside the community.”
Reach the writer at nfranklin@journalstar.com or 402-473-7391.
On Twitter @NealHFranklin
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