Carver Center's future focus of listening session

Apr. 5—CUMBERLAND — Richard Beckwith recalled the aroma of freshly baked cinnamon buns that filled the neighborhood air on his morning walk to school.

When he was a kid, the George Washington Carver school wasn't just a place where teachers provided academic lessons.

It was a second home filled with extended family.

Decades have passed since classes were held at Carver, and today people have various ideas about how the former school building should be used.

A common sentiment runs through their suggestions, however: The Carver building was created for kids who were banned from white schools, and belongs back at the heart of the local Black community.

Background

The 340 Frederick St. brick structure was built in the early 1920s as the George Washington Carver High School for Black students.

It closed in 1959 as public schools stopped separating students based on race.

In the early 1960s the building housed Allegany Community College.

The building was renovated in 2004 and began operating as the Carver Community Center.

But deterioration and vandalism caused it to close in 2011.

Today, the building needs work including roof and elevator repairs, Americans with Disabilities Act accessibility, a sprinkler system and new drywall.

Funding

Nearly a year ago, U.S. Rep. David Trone was at the center to discuss $2 million he had submitted to the House Committee on Appropriations to renovate the Carver Center.

The renovated building was expected to house local nonprofits, including the Boys and Girls Club that provides services for children ages 6 to 18 after school and during the summer.

In July, the U.S. House of Representatives approved $850,000 in funding for the building's restoration.

Last month, Federal Community Project Funding of $16 million signed into law by President Joe Biden included $1 million for renovations to the Carver Center.

Memories

The Carver Community Center board held the first of two listening sessions Thursday to discuss the center's future.

Roughly 30 people were at the meeting, held at Allegany Museum and hosted by the board's consultant Brandon Butler of Pinnacle Strategies, LLC.

The group included several former students of the Carver school.

"I remember having some of the best teachers in the whole county," said Cumberland resident Danny Darr. "It was a wonderful place to be and the food was magnificent. Every day was a holiday."

His cousin, Cumberland resident Donna Dews, was also a student at the school.

"We were well disciplined," she said of attentive teachers. "We learned a lot."

Teachers basically lived in the neighborhood, said Beckwith, a Cumberland native who lives in Bowie.

"The parents never went against the teachers," he said.

Comments

Ideas for future uses of the building included education for technology, trades and apprenticeships; help for mental health and domestic violence; and child care.

Frostburg resident Carmen Jackson said she envisions the building as a place to save kids from crime and drugs.

"For us to have a community that we can relate to and thrive in ... the Carver Center has to make that happen (for the) Black community," she said. "Carver is all we have to stand together."

Jackson said kids need to begin formal learning before preschool.

"Education has to start at birth," she said.

The building was created for education, Cumberland resident Simeon Younger said.

"That essence still lies in that building," he said. "It's not an office space."

The second meeting will be held 1 p.m. April 6 at Cornerstone Baptist Church, 930 Frederick St.

Teresa McMinn is a reporter for the Cumberland Times-News. She can be reached at 304-639-2371 or tmcminn@times-news.com.