ALLENTOWN, Pa. — A project to renovate a 70-year-old downtown church building into a school for more than 1,000 Allentown children officially is underway.
The Rev. Gregory Edwards was master of ceremonies for a groundbreaking ceremony Tuesday behind West Turner Street, where he celebrated the project’s start with many of those who helped fund it.
Edwards spent much of the past five years piecing together the money for the more-than-$7 million Children’s Academy project.
“A project like this has never been done in a community like this [by] folks who don't carry the label ‘developer.'"The Rev. Gregory Edwards
The Resurrected Community Development Corporation secured much of its funding from Truist and Finata — formerly Community First Fund — while the United Church of Christ’s Church Building & Loan Fund loaned the nonprofit $3.4 million, according to a breakdown provided Tuesday.
The Lehigh Valley Community Foundation also contributed money to help realize the project, which received state and city funding.
Overcoming 'risk-averse' landscape
Edwards, who founded the church and leads the RCDC, hailed those partners for supporting the project despite the coronavirus pandemic and “a landscape that’s rather conservative and risk-averse.”
Many investors have “never seen someone like me do something like this — someone like us do something like this,” Edwards told the crowd of a few dozen people standing in a hot parking lot.
“A project like this has never been done in a community like this [by] folks who don't carry the label ‘developer,’” he said.
Education is "critically important to one’s liberation and one’s economic stability."Rev. Gregory Edwards
The building at 914-916 W. Turner St. is set to be gutted and fully renovated.
“We’re going to keep the bones,” but its heating, plumbing and electrical systems will be upgraded, Edwards said.
A new roof and commercial kitchen will be installed, while classrooms will be built with state-of-the-art technology, the pastor said.
And kids will have a new playground in the parking lot when the building reopens as a school.
Edwards said he wants to hold a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Juneteenth 2026.
Opportunity in crisis
Churches in Atlanta, New York and other places have long served as “architect” and “creator” in their communities by helping to build early childhood education centers, supermarkets and affordable housing, Edwards said.
“This is nothing new," he said. "It’s just not been done in this area.
“Many churches overlook their greatest, which is their building. They use it once a week.”
Edwards said he was schooled in the “model of ministry” that sees the church as “an anchor institution in the development of business [and] the development of people.”
“This current political crisis actually is a great opportunity for us. ... We have to step up.”Rev. Gregory Edwards
Education is "critically important to one’s liberation and one’s economic stability,” Edwards said.
He criticized President Donald Trump’s administration for moving to eliminate the U.S. Department of Education.
Cutting off federal education funding “is just going to ultimately cut the country off at its knees,” he said.
But “crisis provides opportunity,” Edwards said.
“This current political crisis actually is a great opportunity for us,” he said. “We have to step up.”
Edwards made another pitch Tuesday to the many funding partners in front of him.
He said he next wants to knock down Resurrected Life Community Church and replace it with affordable housing.
