In 2024, it was announced the old Columbia Flier Building would be converted into a community center named The Source. The Source will be a 65,000-square-foot building, featuring four basketball courts, a food hall, game rooms, recording studios, computers, tutoring, and more.
It will also feature space for resident business and organizations to offer emergency medical, mental health, and social services. Additionally, the space will provide things to support all languages, and a community garden. The new center will also help provide job opportunities for teenagers and adults.
Founder and Executive Director of Columbia Community Care, Erika Strauss Chavarria, says she’s been dreaming about opening a community center for a long time. “When I was a student at Wilde Lake, I knew that for my friends and I who didn’t have the financial means to join clubs, sports, or after school activities that cost money we were kind of just out and about. So even back then, I knew that we needed somewhere to go.”
Chavarria’s perspective only continued to strengthen with time, which led her to pursue this project.“Then I became a teacher at Wilde Lake, and I think it just reinforced me and I knew that our young people deserve a safe space to go.”
Columbia Community Care (CCC) offers mentorship and youth programs for young people to engage in purpose-driven learning and growth. The Source will allow CCC programs like STAND (Strengthening, Training, Advancing, Nurturing, Developing) to have an area to grow.
STAND states their program is committed to “providing the best care possible for everyone.” It is designed to meet the needs of everyone through “various programming that focuses on physical, emotional, intellectual, and social skills.”
STAND Program Director Darryl Jeffries hopes the community center encourages other counties to create community centers. Different centers could possibly offer different activities and new people to meet, creating a closer community.
Jeffries hopes that The Source will be a resource for young people who need outlets in their community who currently do not have any. “I feel like they [leadership] kind of reserve most of the fun stuff and most of the programs, most of the opportunities for groups of people that might not need those opportunities,” Jeffries stated.
Spending money shouldn’t be a set back to having fun with friends. Not everyone has the opportunity to be chosen or have unlimited funds to send.
Although there’s no exact date for the opening, Chavarria said The Source should be expected to be done in about 18 months at the earliest. Getting the word out about The Source is very important since everybody involved is putting time and work into a new place for everyone to be closer, which will give the younger people more of an expansion of things to do.
If you want to learn more about The Source, visit the website to see concepts of the building, timeline of the construction, and the hard-working team. This new community center will allow all ages a place to spend time in Columbia.
