Just wanted to pass along this information to all of you sent to us from the Coral Bay Community Council…
The Partnership in Hope – St. John (PIH) will appear in an open community forum sponsored by the Coral Bay Community Council Wednesday evening, March 16th at 6 pm at the John’s Folly Learning Center in Coral bay, St. John –to discuss reopening the Guy Benjamin School as a community resource center. PIH aims to work with local nonprofit community groups to enhance worthwhile community activities. PIH hopes to learn from a broad cross section of the community the degree of interest in various uses serving youth and adult populations. The size and layout of the buildings creates the possibility of a number of different nonprofit community uses. PIH hopes to find a balance between the greatest needs of the community and feasibility in terms of cost to rehabilitate the facility.
The Virgin Islands Department of Education (DOE) has partnered with the Partnership in Hope (PIH) to make reuse of this facility a possibility. Future uses may involve the entire island population not just residents of Coral Bay. Glen Hall and Jim Furneaux of PIH will explain to attendees the basics of the understanding. The major emphasis of the meeting is to seek feedback from the community. The reuse will not be successful unless members of the community are committed to making it work. Certain criteria in terms of financial viability as well as staffing and operational disciplines will be a necessary part of any initiative going forward.
Sharon Coldren, President of the Coral Bay Community Council observed, “The reopening of the Guy Benjamin School as a community resource center hold great promise in enhancing the life of our community. I hope residents will turn out in great numbers to be a crucial part of this effort”. All are welcome at the Wednesday evening meeting, March 16th at 6 pm at the John’s Folly Learning Center in Coral bay, St. John.
Further information on the meeting is available at the Coral Bay Community Council office at (340) 776-2099.