Nonprofit that feeds west Louisville shocked by 129% rent hike from St. Stephen center

The St. Stephen Family Life Center in Louisville's California neighborhood surprised a local nonprofit with a 129% rent increase, leaving the group searching for a new home.

The 4-year-old nonprofit, named Change Today, Change Tomorrow, and its founder Taylor Ryan distribute free food to more than 12,000 West End families through their #FeedtheWest program.

In June, the organization received notice that the rent for its office would be increasing from $3,500 to $8,000 a month.

St. Stephen Family Life Center Inc., an affiliate of St. Stephen Baptist Church and Simmons College, is the landlord, according to Change Today, Change Tomorrow's one-year lease that ended June. 1.

On June 25, Ryan received an email from St. Stephen Family Life Center interim executive director Pat Mathison notifying her that the lease automatically renewed, but the rent would increase starting July 1.

"It did not provide a reason," Ryan said. "Even after asking, there wasn't much of an explanation."

The lease covered Change Today, Change Tomorrow's facility off S. 15th Street, next to Heaven Hill's distillery and across two empty fields from the Family Life Center.

Mathison did not respond to an Aug. 28 email from The Courier Journal or a phone message left at the center on Wednesday seeking comment.

The Rev. Kevin Cosby, who pastors St. Stephen Baptist Church and is the president of Simmons College, referred all questions to Mathison, saying the family life center is a separate entity from the church and college.

According to the Jefferson County Property Valuation Administrator's office, the owner of the 3,187-square-foot property is St. Stephen Baptist Church.

In a June 14 Courier Journal story regarding Mayor Craig Greenberg's city budget, Ryan, along with other California residents, is quoted questioning a proposal to give $5 million to Simmons College/St. Stephen Family Life Center for a recreation center.

The $5 million was originally listed under the parks and recreation portion of the proposed budget, and Ryan said she wanted the money to be used for parks.

"I want to be very clear," Ryan said at the time. "This is not an anti-church campaign or an anti-college campaign. This is more of a campaign for the funds to remain where the funds should be."

More: She saw needs in the Black community. So she formed a nonprofit to help people from within

Two weeks after Ryan declined the new lease and its rent hike, Change Today, Change Tomorrow was temporarily taken in by Catholic Charities, using their refrigerators to store the food in between distributions.

"I went directly into panic mode and started making logistical calls to move out of the building," Ryan said. "We moved our entire operation in that five-day notice.

"I'm not a multi-millionaire church. I'm a poor Black woman. I don't have $8,000 to give you, nor do I have the capacity or resources to take that to court. Therefore, we just moved."

Now, the group has new rent-free office space at the University of Louisville's Health Innovation Hub, which keeps them in the West End, but Ryan is still doing food distribution from her 22nd Street house to keep close to the people in the California neighborhood who have come to depend on her group.

Since the move from her former location was swift, it took a few weeks for those in the area to know where to find her.

Even St. Stephen Family Life Center inquired, Ryan said.

"They sent us a Facebook message," Ryan said. "Like 'Hey, where are y'all located now? People are coming here for food.'

"I thought that was funny because in my mind, they should have fed those folks. They are a church."

Reporter Stephanie Kuzydym can be reached at skuzydym@courier-journal.com. Follow her for updates on Twitter at @stephkuzy.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: St. Stephen Family Life Center increases rent for louisville nonprofit