House panel OKs $850,000 for African-American center

By: Daily Progress Staff Reports | Daily Progress
Published: October 19, 2010

U.S. Rep. Tom Perriello, D-Ivy, said Tuesday that his $850,000 earmark to fund the planned African-American Heritage Cultural Center in Charlottesville’s soon-to-be refurbished Jefferson School is one step closer to reality.

Perriello’s funding request was included in the House Interior and Environment Appropriations subcommittee report in July, a step that Perriello’s office said virtually guarantees it will be in the final House version of the bill.

The announcement is the second earmark Perriello has touted in Charlottesville in the final days before voters decide between him and his Republican challenger, state Sen. Robert Hurt of Chatham.

Earlier this month, Perriello was joined by area officials to push for Senate approval of a $500,000 earmark for design and engineering of improvements to the U.S. 29/U.S. 250 interchange.

Hurt’s campaign did not return a request for comment about Perriello’s earmark announcement Tuesday.

Perriello announced the request’s inclusion in the subcommittee report Tuesday on the steps of the Jefferson School, which was a segregated all-black school between 1894 to 1958 and was integrated as a junior high school in 1965.

A project is set to get under way next month to renovate and redevelop the building to house a variety of tenants, such as the Jefferson Area Board for Aging, Piedmont Virginia Community College, the YMCA, the Literacy Volunteers of Charlottesville-Albemarle and others. A major part of the project will also be the planned African-American cultural center.

Martin Burks, president of the Jefferson School Community Partnership, stood next to Perriello on the school’s steps Tuesday as the earmark’s advancement was announced.

“Just imagine for a moment, a beautiful building, gorgeous landscaping, a wonderful park and activity — young and old — throughout this building in the heart of the Starr Hill district, two blocks from the Downtown Mall and two blocks from the University of Virginia. That’s a wonderful thing,” Burks said.

Perriello said he hopes the U.S. Senate sees the value in the Jefferson School project and approves an appropriations bill that includes the earmark.

“We need them to understand how valuable this is, how precious this is to our community,” Perriello said.

The project, he said, will “build a bridge from a proud but troubling history to a future we can all be proud of.”