KCDC, community partners and stakeholders to break ground on Western Heights Head Start Facility
Knoxville’s Community Development Corporation (KCDC), along with business and community members of the Western Heights and Beaumont neighborhoods, will break ground on a new Head Start facility this Wednesday, Sept. 8, at 10 a.m. at 1201 Oldham Ave.
Among those in attendance will be City of Knoxville elected officials, KCDC Executive Director and CEO Ben Bentley; Barbara Kelly, Executive Director of Knoxville-Knox County Community Action Committee (CAC); and other project partners.
The facility is planned to accommodate 130 children, from infants to age 5, with comprehensive preschool programs. The “Transforming Western” initiative was a 15-month long process that solicited input from residents through a series of resident community meetings and online surveys. Residents were gifted a Chromebook to participate in a survey about their community.
Western Heights is in Northwest Knoxville and is KCDC’s largest affordable housing property with roots from 1939.
Resident meetings, surveys is online at https://www.engagetheteam.com/western.
In November, KCDC will apply for a $30 million HUD Choice Neighborhoods Implementation Grant to fund and complete the transformation of Western Heights Housing.