Cultural center to open its doors in Olean

Olean is rich in black history, something many of its residents may not know. Bringing this to the community's attention is one of the many purposes of the African American Center for Cultural Development, slated to open in June, Della Moore, one of the center's founders, said. The center will host speakers, slam poetry events, G.E.D. workshops and community activities, as well as a display of local black history, Moore, director of the BonaBuddies program said.

"We're going to have an ever-changing, permanent display of African-American history . Olean history and neighborhood history," Moore said. "It's not just for African-Americans; it's for everybody."

The five founders - Moore, Mark Sabella, Carrie Wolfe, Ola Mae Gayton and Beverley Twitty - aim for the center to open in June with a kick-off festival, Wolfe said.

The center will be located at 401 W. Green St., Olean, in the former Bethel African Methodist Episcopalian Church where Moore was a member for 32 years.

The church closed in 2004 due to a dwindling congregation. Since the church's closing, Moore has been trying to acquire the building with Gayton and Twitty to convert it into a cultural center.

Wolfe, director of Children's Ministries at Christ United Methodist Church in Olean, said she also felt an attachment to the church.

"I had been . drawn to the building on Green Street, thinking that it was sort of a unique neighborhood with . a really good sense of community," she said.

When the building went up for sale, she considered buying it.

"I didn't really have any resources to buy it myself, and the churches I worked for didn't have the resources to buy it," she said. "I kept thinking something could happen there."

Mark Sabella, director of NeighborWorks Home Resources in Olean, bought the church along with houses in the surrounding area to rehabilitate the area, Moore said.

NeighborWorks is a non-profit organization that provides safe, affordable housing to the community, according to its Web site.

Sabella, a member of Wolfe's church, discussed with her what should be done to the building. Nothing came to fruition until Wolfe worked with Moore at her church's vacation Bible school, when Moore mentioned her previous membership and plans for a cultural center.

Moore said in the six years the building has been vacated, it's miraculous nothing has happened to it.

"You know our winters. It has had no heat, and nothing's broken. No pipe is broken," she said. "They say that's a bad neighborhood. It's not a bad neighborhood. Nobody has written graffiti on it. Nobody has broken in on it."

Currently, the center needs to be made wheelchair accessible and have a working bathroom for it to open. The Rotary Club in Olean has been working with the center to make this possible.

The founders are also applying for a 501c(3), or non-profit status. The center needs to have this to accept official donations and grants, Moore said.

Wolfe has big plans for the center, including afterschool programs for local children.

"One of the centers that we went to in Buffalo had a program where they had a teacher come in and they give violin lessons free of charge," she said. "We'd love to connect local musicians and local artists with the center."

Moore also plans on resurrecting a documentary-style show she used to host based on the people in Olean.

"I'm going to ask the neighbors if they mind telling me their stories," she said. "That's going to be part of the resource material and living history in the center."

Moore said she wants to contribute to the neighborhood.

"I just want to spread the history around and make the neighborhood prouder than it is," she said. "There's a lot of pride in that neighborhood."

Not only will the center make the neighborhood proud, but it will also carry on the church's legacy.

"It was a beacon on that corner," Moore said. "Now it's going to carry on."

e-mail: kleinaj@sbu.edu