A Challenge to the Community

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When the Sixth Avenue Clubhouse faced challenges after last year’s closure of its corporate conduit New Vistas/Mountain Laurel, Rosalie Hurst and her late daughter Kathie Cramer, challenged the community to raise $75,000 by providing a $75,000 matching funds gift.

The pair wanted to help make the Clubhouse independent,but also wanted the community to be involved. The Clubhouse gained its independence and its nonprofit status and is now known as Sixth Avenue Psychiatric and Rehabilitation Partners.

The $150,000 matching funds supports the Clubhouse’s programs and administrative needs.

Rosalie recalls her early support of the Clubhouse after responding to a newspaper article wanting to start a place for people living with mental and physical illness.
Her interest started because of her daughter, one of the fi rst members of the Clubhouse.

The Clubhouse was a place for Kathie to be part of a community.They have outreach programs and members are involved with the community by holding jobs or doing service.

The Community Foundation served as corporate conduit for the Clubhouse during its transition and continues to accept donations on behalf of the organization.

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The African-American Community Reading Project (AACRP) is the continuation of a long history of African-Americans seeking education for fuller participation in American life, says Dr. John Cato, a retired clergyman and editor of the organization’s newsletter. 

The nonprofit’s mission is to foster greater civic, economic and educational participation among adults and youth in Henderson County’s minority communities through mentoring. 

The AACRP work focuses on four areas: reading, math, communication skills, and writing with mentors of all ethnicities.  “A mentor is a caring mature person who can guide a younger person,” says Cato. 

He credits matriarchs in the community with founding the organization that holds monthly meetings with parents and community members discussing topics, including college preparation, family and social relationships, classic and contemporary black literature and black history.

“Everybody has something to teach and everybody has something they want to learn,” says Cato.  “As a boy in Harlem in the 1940’s, walking home from school, street corner men anxiously asked me what I learned at school and wanted to know about the pyramids. The long standing respect for education is being revived today as minority people seek to empower themselves,” added Cato.

The Community Foundation awarded a challenge grant to support the start-up of this project.