$2.4M grant funds community center
A new community center is coming to Oak Ridge’s historic Scarboro neighborhood next to the Atomic Elks Lodge at 262 Wilberforce Ave.
The community center will offer new opportunities and services to the Scarboro community, a news release from Oak Ridge Housing Authority. Among them will be medical care, a training center, community gatherings, an entrepreneurial incubator space, and a place to preserve history of the Scarboro community. The community center will also offer space for neighborhood gatherings for about 80-100 people. It will be built with a $2.4 million Community Capacity Building Grant from the Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management. The Elks Lodge and several community partners worked together on the funding and plans for the new building. Partners included United Cleanup Oak Ridge LLC (UCOR), the lead cleanup contractor for DOE in Oak Ridge and the Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management. Groundbreaking took place at 10 a.m. Thursday, Sept. 17.
The Atomic Elks Lodge 130, one of the oldest organizations in Scarboro, received its charter around 1949. Property was deeded to the Elks Lodge in 1958. The Lodge sought to improve the quality of life in the Scarboro community through socio-economic programs, youth enrichment programs, as well as serving as a social club, a news release stated.
Photo submitted
This rendering on display at a Sept. 17 groundbreaking shows a new community center planned for Oak Ridge next to the Atomic Elks Lodge at 262 Wilberforce Ave.
