Allen Neighborhood Center thrives with two recent grants

Programs and activities through the Allen Neighborhood Center on Lansing's East Side will continue to come to fruition thanks to the support of two recent grants.
 
A $150,000 grant through the Baltimore-based Weinberg Foundation will fund additional capital improvements to the new Allen Market Place facility. Executive Director Joan Nelson says the grant enables the center to complete interior and exterior work that includes a mezzanine and small café, a canopied entrance, signage and parking lot improvements.
 
"We'll also be able to finish a fermentation room for a potential microbrewery," says Nelson. "We're hoping to have our first anchor tenant come summer."
 
The non-profit community development agency at 1619 E. Kalamazoo Street also received a second round of funds through a Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development program. Awarded in late April through the Value Added and Regional Food System Grant Program, the $72,856 will support three Allen Market Place programs that provide training, mentoring and marketing opportunities to mid-Michigan growers and food entrepreneurs.
 
"We have a robust food movement here in Mid-Michigan," says Nelson. "Ag is definitely a sector on the move. We're really delighted and feel lucky to be involved in this work and to receive the support from these two entities to make it happen."
 
Nelson says grant support will allow the center to offer a comprehensive schedule of classes, workshops and one-on-one mentoring through their recently launched kitchen incubator and Exchange program. The instructional team, Nelson says, will include six to 10 experts from the Small Business Development Center Capital Region Office, the Michigan State University Product Center, the Michigan Learning Connection, and MSU Extension.
 
"This grant allows us to provide resources, training and business opportunities for small- to mid-size growers and food producers around mid-Michigan," says Nelson. "We're getting a huge response from our teaser workshops. We anticipate once we have our full schedule it will be pretty lively around here."
 
Source: Joan Nelson, Executive Director, Allen Neighborhood Center
Writer: Ann Kammerer, Development News Editor