ROCK ISLAND, Ill. — Rock Island's Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center has been awarded a three-year, $300,000 grant from the Quad Cities Community Foundation to support its West End Revitalization efforts in the city.
“The West End has long contained some of the most distressed census tracts in the state of Illinois,” said Jerry Jones, executive director at the MLK Center. “Despite that, it remains a wonderfully caring and close-knit neighborhood. Those who live here are filled with unwavering pride and belief in the potential for their West End. This grant is going to help fulfill that potential.”
Since 2022, the West End Revitalization efforts have brought together community leaders and members with the goal of building wealth, power and livability in Rock Island's West End neighborhoods.
The initiative is driven by inclusive community assessment and focuses on community engagement, personal assets and income, housing and land, community economic vitality and infrastructure and visual appeal.
“It’s a comprehensive approach,” said Thurgood Brooks, West End Revitalization coordinator. “Collectively, we envision the possibilities of better sidewalks, greater broadband access, more affordable housing, and entrepreneurial investment. It requires that residents, businesses, nonprofits, and government all talk and work together.”
It's why the Quad Cities Community Foundation decided to give this year's Transformation Grant to the MLK Center.
“The MLK Center’s dedication to collective impact and to using this grant to lift up other organizations is critical,” said Kaleigh Trammell, interim director of grantmaking and community initiatives at the Community Foundation. “They’re the backbone of this project, meaning they’ll use their leadership and credibility to bring more collaborators into the effort.”
“Nonprofits are used to operating on a shoestring budget,” said Jones. “This trust-based, unrestricted funding is a game-changer. It brings stability, and it lets us be flexible, strategic, and more effective as we create lasting transformation in this neighborhood we love so much.”
Jones joined The Current on News 8 to discuss how the MLK Center will use the money and what it means for residents in the West End. You can watch his full interview in the video above.
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