My name is Keith Watson and I have the pleasure of being the President of the Board of Directors for the Black Diamond Community Center. Contrary to some recent rumors, the Black Diamond Community Center is NOT CLOSING.
We, like many centers, are facing cuts but our greatest challenge has to do with insurance. The Center provides many public services for families and individuals. It has an emergency food bank pantry, a clothing bank, energy assistance, gasoline and propane vouchers, rental assistance for families, hotel vouchers for women and children, and many Senior Programs that deal with health, nutrition, and recreation.
The Community Center is a Mass Disaster Center for the Red Cross. We also have a Before and After School Kids (BASK) day care program. The Black Diamond Community Center Corporation owns and operates the Community Center building located at 31605 Third Avenue (Highway 169) and is a nonprofit 501[c]3 organization.
Please visit web at www.blackdiamondcc.org/ for more information.
There is an agreement between the Community Center and the city of Black Diamond; for the city to provide various services, “in consideration for the many services for the public welfare and benefit,” including providing insurance for the Community Center building, grounds, and the center’s vehicles. This agreement has been in place since the early 1990s. We were informed in June of this year that the city may not be able to continue providing coverage due to financial shortfalls. We need to ensure that the Community Center is fully insured. Since we have not had a definitive answer from the city despite continued inquiries by us, our Board of Directors at their September 2014 meeting, voted to pursue independent insurance coverage on the Community Center and our vehicles.
Providing our own insurance on the Center and vehicles will be very costly. We may need to have additional fundraisers and cut or even eliminate some programs but we are confident that the community will support us and we promise to do everything possible to continue serving the citizens of Black Diamond and the surrounding areas. Thank you for your understanding and support; we look forward to continuing public services onward into the future.
Keith Watson
Black Diamond
