The Aurora City Council recently approved a technology upgrade for the Grand Community Center on the East Side.
Aldermen approved a resolution to buy equipment to provide internet access, door access controls, surveillance cameras and appropriate licensing for the center at 1226 Grand Blvd.
The city will by the equipment for $104,282 from Scientel Solutions LLC, on Eola Road.
The community center has been home for Taking Back Our Community since it began running programs there in 2010. Taking Back Our Community has been around since 1995, which makes the organization one of the oldest and longest-operating neighborhood groups in the city.
In 2010, the organization incorporated as a nonprofit so it could secure funding to run programs at the Grand Boulevard Center. The programs had been run there by the YWCA since 1986, but when it was unable to keep them going, Taking Back Our Community stepped in.
The Grand Boulevard Center’s history actually goes back to shortly after World War II, when African American veterans returning from the war built the facility. It was used as a community entertainment spot for dances and other social events, originally.
Other neighborhood group meetings have been held at the facility. City officials have said Taking Back Our Community’s efforts have helped to reduce crime and have also helped with beautification programs in the neighborhood.
Taking Back Our Community organizes neighborhood clean-up events and sponsors a yearly National Night Out event at the center.
City officials said the facility also has a computer lab that has been used as part of the city’s No Child Left Offline initiative to provide programs for youth and seniors citizens.
The equipment at the center was expanded recently and upgraded, so it is in need of better internet services, as well as updated door access controls and surveillance cameras, officials have said.
The new camera equipment will be $37,626 of the overall cost, and the new internet equipment and installation is estimated to cost $66,656.
