Mlk Center Awarded $300,000 for West End Revitalization

credit:

The Martin Luther King Jr.

Community Center in Rock Island, Ill., has been awarded a $300,000 grant to help transform a troubled section of the city, WQAD reports.

According to the Quad Cities Community Foundation, the West End of Rock Island has "long contained some of the most distressed census tracts in the state of Illinois."

But "it remains a wonderfully caring and close-knit neighborhood," MLK Center Executive Director Jerry Jones says.

"Those who live here are filled with unwavering pride and belief in the potential for their West End."

The foundation's Transformation Grant will help the MLK Center "build wealth, power, and livability in Rock Island's West End neighborhoods," WQAD reports.

The project's goal is "to build wealth, power, and livability in Rock Island's West End neighborhoods," WQAD reports.

The MLK Center plans to use the grant to improve sidewalks, broadband access, affordable housing, and entrepreneurial investment.

"They're the backbone of this project, meaning they'll use their leadership and credibility to bring more collaborators into the effort," Jones says.

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