J.B. Callahan Neighborhood Center DEDICATION

May 24, 1986 10:30 a.m

In 1921 a school was built. The school was named Jones High School in honor of L.C. Jones whose family donated the land for the school building. Grades six through ten were moved to the new facility from Johnson Academy.

L.C. Jones was the Principal of Johnson Academy, a two-story wood frame structure located at the corner of Chatham and Jefferson Streets where all black students of the city attended prior to the building of Jones High.

In 1929 the school was enlarged to its present configuration and all twelve grades were offered. The first graduation for students completing the twelfth grade was held in 1931.

In 1952 Jones High School was moved to a larger new facility on West Cypress Street. The old building was converted to an elementary school and renamed Callahan Elementary School in honor of Dr. J.B. Callahan, a prominent black physician.

During 1966 and 1967 the City of Orlando, with assistance from the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, acquired the property adjacent to Callahan Elementary School, bounded by Lincoln, Terry, Washington Streets. The property was to be used for a joint school/city park.

Existing residents were relocated, building demolished and a neighborhood park was constructed. The park was completed in 1968 and name in honor of J.B. Callahan.

In 1970, with black and white students being integrated, Callahan Elementary School was closed. In December 1976, the building site was purchased from the School Board.

In May of 1983, the City Council approved selection of Robert L. Wilson Associates for design of the new facility. After competitive construction bidding, construction was awarded to JD Pirotta Construction.

A new tot lot was made possible by the Bard Corporation in January 1996. Their generous donation of funds and volunteer man-hours combined with funding from the City and Orange County Community Affairs has given participants in the Callahan Head Start Program a new play area totaling $39,000.

Phase III, totaling $600,000 included the addition of over 4,400 square feet comprised of a teen room, game room, multi-purpose room and vestibule/lobby with seating area, parking lot extension on the north side, a new parking lot on the south side and park landscaping.

The final phase of the Master Plan addresses basketball court and park lighting, picnic pavilions and a new playground. Cost of this phase was $200,000 and completed August 1997.

J.B. Callahan Neighborhood Center re-DEDICATION

January 11, 1997 2:00 p.m.

Over 75 years ago, Mr. L.C. Jones was the principal of Johnson Academy, which was a two-story, wood- frame structure located at the corner of Chatham and Jefferson Streets. Realizing the need for a new facility for students in grades six through ten, Mr. Jones and his family donated land where the Dr. James B. Callahan Neighborhood Center stands today, for construction of a new school in 1921. The donated land is where the original Jones High School was constructed.

By the year 1929, Jones High School was enlarged to accommodate students in all twelve grades. The first graduation for students completing twelfth grade a jones High was held in 1931. As the student population grew, so did the need for a new school. In 1952, Jones High School was moved to a new location on West Cypress Street and the old facility was converted to an Elementary school. The school was renamed and became known as Callahan Elementary School in honor of Dr. James B. Callahan, a prominent black physician.

In 1966, with assistance from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the City of Orlando was able to acquire property adjacent to the school for development of a community park. The Dr. James B. Callahan Park was completed in 1968.

The permanent closing of the school came in 1970 which eventually allowed the City the opportunity to purchase the building in December 1976. Funding was approved in May 1983, renovation begun, and the building was dedicated as a neighborhood center by Mayor Bill Frederick in May 1986.

With the desire to make community centers the hub areas as activity in neighborhoods, newly elected Mayor Glenda E. Hood commissioned staff to Master Plan all sites where community center existed. Callahan Park was no exception. In 1993, under the leadership of Mayor Hood, the Orlando City Council approved funding for the expansion and upgrading of the Callahan site in accordance with the approved Master Plan.

Phase I renovations, cost approximately $300,000, included preparation of the Master Plan, roof repairs, the addition of 1,600 square feet of courtyards to the north and south of the building, office space and a computer room.

Phase II renovations totaled $463.000, included the community room platform and storage area, food service room, facility painting and new ceilings. Also, the playground was relocated,

The final phase of the Master Plan addresses basketball court and park lighting, picnic pavilions and a new playground. Cost of this phase was $200,000 and completed August 1997.

In all close to $1.6 million was spent to complete the Master Plan for the Dr. James B. Callahan Neighborhood Center.

The Dr. James B. Callahan Neighborhood Center is an active growing facility. During the years, over 65,000 participants took advantage of a variety of programs and services from OASIS (Orlando After School Is Super Program, Camp Loads of Fun Day Camp, MTP Club Teen Leadership Program, Computer Lab, Youth Sports, Art Classes, Head Start, Senior Nutrition Program, Golf, Ethnic Dance Classes and UCF McKnight Center.

The Dr. James B. Callahan Neighborhood Center is reaching a higher standard of excellence through the sands of time!!!

callahan listening project

2000 - 2001

The Callahan Listening Project was a six-month community organizing project developed by Rural Southern Voice Peace, a North Carolina-based nonprofit group. Through the Listening project the residents of Callahan became part of facilitating positive change in the neighborhood. The project team members of Callahan attended listening project training on conducting door-to-door neighborhood interviewers. Each team consisted of two people (a primary interviewer and a scribe to take notes).

THE HISTORY OF JONES HIGH AND CALLAHAN ELEMNTARY SCHOOLS

In 1921, Jones High School was built on the present site of the J.B. Callahan Neighborhood Center. Jones was named in honor of L.C. Jones whose family donated land for the school. Jones High School initially taught sixth through the tenth grades. In 1929, Jones High School was enlarged and taught up to the twelfth grades. In 1952, Jones High School was moved to a larger new facility. The old building was converted to an elementary school and renamed, Callahan Elementary in honor of J. B. Callahan, a prominent local black physician. In 1968 a park was completed adjacent to the elementary school and named in honor of J.B. Callahan In 1970, with black and white students being integrated, Callahan Elementary was closed. While there were plans to demolish the school, Callahan residents expressed concern over demolition of the school building. The voices of the community were heard. After soliciting proposals in 1981, the City Council adopted a resolution endorsing a concept for the Callahan Center Project. The Callahan neighborhood Association opposed the plan to demolish Callahan Elementary School. Callahan Elementary was closed for nearly 20 years and was in great disrepair. Developers and the City wanted to tear the building down, but because of the building historic institution of serving the community, Callahan’s residents wanted it rehabilitated. As a compromise the building historic façade was retained while a new million-dollar neighborhood center was built attached to the historic facade. The J.B. Callahan Neighborhood Center was dedicated 1986.

THE HISTORY OF THE CALLAHAN NEIGHBORHOOD

In 2001, Callahan was made up of approximately 3,000 residents in a quarter square mile radius. Most homes were built between the 1900s and 1920’s. Most of the housing stock was bungalows and shotgun styled single family homes. Callahan had an 80% rental and 20% home ownership rate. The neighborhood contained a mix of residential, commercial, and industrial components blocks away from the growing and booming downtown Orlando. Substandard housing, low median income, high unemployment, low educational attainment, few job opportunities, high crime, and an eroded sense of community dominated the neighborhood. Ninety percent of the homeless population in Orlando was housed in the Callahan community. High crime, no schools and the absence of quality housing were viewed as a deterrent to new homebuyers. The neighborhood had potential in becoming a vibrant and safe mixed-used community where people could live, work, play and learn, sadly, there were no commitment to invest.

THE NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION

In May 1978, the Callahan Neighborhood Association was incorporated as a community-based organization composed of people working together to preserve and improve the Callahan area for its residents. The Callahan neighborhood Association had five main goals of:

Getting more neighborhood residents involved indirectly in influencing public policies.
Stabilizing the neighborhood by promoting improvement of existing housing and construction of new affordable housing.
Prevent direct or indirect displacement from commercial development, in downtown Orlando.
Influence allocation of municipal resources and design of public programs and tax increment funds to ensure low income residents benefited to the maximum funding extent.
And, provided no-cost supervised learning and enriching experiences for youth and seniors in the area.

Up to the point the Callahan Listening Project in 2001, there were significant accomplishments in the

The Callahan Neighborhood Association Inc. was actively engaged in the design of the rental rehabilitation program proposed by the city. The association was instrumental in the design of the Rental Rehabilitation Program for Callahan Oaks and Grove Park Manor housing complexes.
The Association’s planning community persuaded the City to designate one planner to work with the association in designing and implementing the Comprehensive Callahan Neighborhood Plan which included new zoning mapping for the area.
C.N.A. affected the re-allocation of the Community Development Block Grant Program (CDBG) funds for homeowner’s rehabilitation into Callahan.
C.N.A. was the first neighborhood in the city to have a Neighborhood Identification sign, current located and still standing on West Washington Street by the Zora Neale Hurston Federal Building.
The Callahan Neighborhood Association wrote the proposal and opened the first computer lab in a city neighborhood center, called the Georgia Nell Woodley Computer Learning Lab, named in

honor of the association’s first president.
In 1998, C.N.A. was award 2nd place in the National Neighborhood of the Year Award.

10 years, in the 90’s and before the Callahan Listening Project the Callahan area experienced struggling rough years. The local newspaper headlines highlighted Callahan’s plight: Pioneering Church, Praises Long, Proud Past Today; New Day for Parramore; The Mission: Weeding Out Crime and City Fight Decay of Parramore; A New Elementary School May Come to Parramore.

10 years AFTER the Listening Project, the local newspaper headlines pointed to HOPE. Parramore Residents Embrace Notion of Reviving Area; Parramore 2000 Initiative Moves Ahead; and Parramore Charter School Wins OK.

The Callahan Listening Project surveyed 47 residents. The first series of interview questions were about:

OUR NEIGHBORHOOD:

How Long have you lived in the Callahan neighborhood?

➢ In 2001, the average length of residency was 17 years and 10 months ranging from 3 years up to 79 years.

What do you like most about living in Callahan?

➢ The location, convenience, and people
What do you think makes Callahan a good place to live?

➢ The people, communication between the people in the neighborhood
If you could change some things about Callahan, what would you change?

➢ Get the drugs out of the neighborhood, make the neighborhood cleaner.

Do you have suggestions about what could be done to help getting the drugs out and cleaning up the neighborhood?

➢ Increased and better police involvement; residents working together as a group by participating in the Neighborhood Watch Program.

The next series of interview questions to the participants were about:

OUR CHILDHREN...EDUCATING THE NEXT GENERATION

With the opening of the Nap Ford Charter School in 20001

➢ 47% of the Callahan residents interviewed were aware of the opening of the new Nap Ford

Charter School

➢ 62% welcomed to get a 1-page information sheet on the new charter school opening

➢ 70% wanted to have written materials sent to then about the progress of the new charter school

➢ 36% knew of children ages 4 – 7 that may be attending the Nap Ford Charter School

The next series of questions were about:

OUR FUTURE...THE CHANGING FACE OF CALLAHAN

The neighborhood had changed over the years. An important issue that affected the neighborhood and its residents was new development in and around the Callahan area. Examples included the new Arena in the old fair ground for the new NBA Magic basketball team and the planning of the new Florida

Agricultural and Mechanical University College of Law. Interview questions were asked on what they like about those 2 current and future development projects for the area.

The residents were asked:

➢ Do you think the new arena proposed for Church Street will be good for the Callahan neighborhood? 34% answered YES.

➢ Do you think the new FAMU law school, built in Callahan would be good for the Callahan neighborhood? 83% answered YES.

➢ Do you think the residents of Callahan neighborhood should be consulted about and included in decisions about building and development project (like the arena or law school)? 68% answered YES.

➢ What kinds of activities would you like to see offered at the J.B. Callahan Neighborhood Center that you and others in your household would enjoy participating in?

o Theresidentsanswered:
▪ Educational programs such as reading for adults and children, computer classes

for both adults and children and tutoring.
▪ Family-oriented activities such as neighborhood barbecues and games like

checkers, chess, and bingo.

➢ Do you think there is a need for a health clinic located in Callahan? 71% answered YES.

The last series of questions asked was about:

THE CALLAHAN NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION

What sorts of things do you think the Callahan Neighborhood Association could be doing to benefit the neighborhood?

➢ More outreach to the community to get more and younger residents involved. ➢ More clean-ups, beautification, and code enforcement.

The Callahan Neighborhood Association was forming a beautification committee to plan and help carry out activities to keep Callahan a clean and beautiful neighborhood.

➢ 47% were interested in being a part of the beautification committee. Lastly

➢ 58% of the residents interviewed wanted information on rental rights and what can be done if there was a rental’s problem or grievance

In conclusion, signs and a banner were displayed in the community:

STAND UP AND SPEAK OUT
FOR YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD
DOOR-TO-DOOR INTEVEIEWS
SATURDAY NOVEMBER 4, 11AM TO 2MPM SPONSORED BY THE CALLAHAN NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION

A booklet was also created and is on file with the Callahan Neighborhood Association. The booklet was dedicated to the Callahan Community, Neighbors, Volunteers, Children, and All future endeavors.