The Bona Venture

Issue date: 2/5/10 Section: News

Media Credit: Della Moore [Click to enlarge]

Olean is rich in black history, something many of its residents may not know. Bringing this to the community's attention is one of the many purposes of the African American Center for Cultural Development, slated to open in June, Della Moore, one of the center's founders, said.

The center will host speakers, slam poetry events, G.E.D. workshops and community activities, as well as a display of local black history, Moore, director of the BonaBuddies program said.

"We're going to have an ever-changing, permanent display of African-American history … Olean history and neighborhood history," Moore said. "It's not just for African-Americans; it's for everybody."

The five founders - Moore, Mark Sabella, Carrie Wolfe, Ola Mae Gayton and Beverley Twitty - aim for the center to open in June with a kick-off festival, Wolfe said.

The center will be located at 401 W. Green St., Olean, in the former Bethel African Methodist Episcopalian Church where Moore was a member for 32 years.

The church closed in 2004 due to a dwindling congregation. Since the church's closing, Moore has been trying to acquire the building with Gayton and Twitty to convert it into a cultural center.

Wolfe, director of Children's Ministries at Christ United Methodist Church in Olean, said she also felt an attachment to the church.

"I had been … drawn to the building on Green Street, thinking that it was sort of a unique neighborhood with … a really good sense of community," she said.

When the building went up for sale, she considered buying it.

"I didn't really have any resources to buy it myself, and the churches I worked for didn't have the resources to buy it," she said. "I kept thinking something could happen there."

Mark Sabella, director of NeighborWorks Home Resources in Olean, bought the church along with houses in the surrounding area to rehabilitate the area, Moore said.

NeighborWorks is a non-profit organization that provides safe, affordable housing to the community, according to its Web site.

Sabella, a member of Wolfe's church, discussed with her what should be done to the building. Nothing came to fruition until Wolfe worked with Moore at her church's vacation Bible school, when Moore mentioned her previous membership and plans for a cultural center.

Continued...

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