TOLEDO, Ohio — The East Toledo Family Center -- a cornerstone of the neighborhood -- is planning to make a $15 million expansion that will allow the center to offer more programming.
The center on Varland Avenue at East Broadway Street wants Toledo City Council to approve its plans for 23,000-square-foot expansion.
"We're busy all year long. We serve families every single day. Hundreds of families monthly," Executive Director Jodi Gross said.
With the COVID-19 pandemic and inflation hurting many local families, the East Toledo Family Center is needed more than ever, she said.
The center recently conducted a winter clothing drive and collected coats, gloves, scarves, and boots, to help people make it through the cold weather.
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The center also hosts programs for preschool children and senior citizens, along with recreational opportunities like basketball baseball and volleyball.
But the walls of the center can only hold so much.
Gross commissioned a feasibility study that showed the center needs upgraded facilities, more space to offer their programs, and room to grow into the future.
The proposed renovations would expand the center by adding a new building on an empty field behind the current building.
The Navarre Park Family Health Center is currently connected to the East Toledo Family Center. That won't change if the family center expands, Gross said.
"I envision a really cool recreation center for the East Toledo community," Gross said. "That's what I envision here."
The new building would be home to athletic programs, the pre-Kindergarten program, and senior citizen activities.
To make way for the expansion, the East Toledo Family Center will have to lose one of its two baseball fields, but only temporarily. Plans call for a new baseball field to replace it.
The city hasn't committed any money to it yet, but Gross hopes that will change.
"The reality is we know there are dollars out there," she said. "We know we're going to have to look for grants, we're going to have to look for federal and state dollars."
"And if we get these 23,000 square feet, oh my gosh, I can't even imagine what we can do," Gross said.
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