The Holland Community Center, Inc. is is a non profit company. We are not a part of the town or school board but we do plan to work with both in creating a community center. Our hope is to bring the community back together and give people more reasons for why Holland is the best place to live. We plan to be very open and transparent with as much as we can. We are currently still working on getting set up but hope to have a very productive year starting things like meet ups and walking paths.
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Goal
​​The community center will be a multi-generational gathering place for locals and visitors of all ages. It will be home to community programs, recreational programs, social services, meeting space, community events, food and elderly assistance. The community center will enhance residents’ daily lives by strengthening families, improving health and wellness, providing safer alternatives for youth and adult recreation, and by improving the local economy through supporting and addressing community needs (such as, combating the underlying causes of economic deterioration, cultural programs and business assistance- including shared office space, providing information, or workshops). In addition, as a designated emergency shelter, such a facility will also enhance the community’s capacity to deal with future disasters.
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Overview
Holland Community Center, Incorporated (HCC) was created for the purpose of inspiring enrichment, wellness and supporting community and non-profit partners through the establishment of a community center in the former Holland Elementary School building in Holland, Vermont.
In 2019, the State of Vermont Agency of Education mandated that all small schools in Vermont either be forced to merge with another school, or completely close their local school. The town of Holland decided to close its school and tuition their students to another area school. This decision left our school building empty and unused. Many felt that "our soul" had been lost when we closed the school since it was the hub for all community events.
In 2019, as a result of the forced closing/mergers of local schools, the State of Vermont offered grants to local communities to figure out how to utilize the closed buildings. The grant was to determine how best to keep the building an asset to the community and develop concepts on how to do that, and to determine what that might look like. Holland accepted the grant and established a group of community members to study alternatives and make recommendations. A meeting with Holland residents took place to compile a variety of ideas. Residents voted on those ideas and an overwhelming number of community members attending that meeting voted for a community center.
In the Spring of 2021, the Holland School District voters were sent a mail-in ballot seeking their vote on the reuse of this community asset. An overwhelming 98% of respondents were in favor of the school building being developed into a community center. The Holland School Board indicated a desire to support this effort by maintaining the building expenses in their budget for a period of three years. This support would enable town residents, the Holland School Board, and the Holland Select Board an opportunity to explore how the community center would operate and be funded.
This support allowed local community members to establish an organization known as Holland Community Center. On June 6, 2021, the State of Vermont recognized Holland Community Center, Incorporated as a non-profit corporation established under Vermont Statutes. The new non-profit corporation established a founding Board of Directors, developed their Articles of Association, secured a Federal ID Number and a DUNS Number, and established their fiscal year to end on June 30th.
Holland Community Center would like to provide a central location for a number of charitable and community services and activities that are not currently available to residents. The Community Center will enhance lives by strengthening families, improving health and wellness, providing safer alternatives for youth and adult recreation, and cultivate the region’s appreciation for creative industries such as the arts. It will promote an increased sense of unity, a fundamental part of a healthy civic life, and assist with combating community deterioration by renovating-re-purposing a former school building.
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Community Recreational, Arts and Cultural Center-open and accessible to the general public.
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Community Facilities/Classroom Space
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Local Emergency Shelter (Local location to keep people safe from extreme weather conditions)
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Provide Space for Cultural Events & Arts
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Provide Space for Gathering Place-Elderly Assistance (Adult Day and other services to promote empowerment, independence and quality of life for elders, adults with disabilities and their caregivers)
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Provide Space for and sponsor Community Events (Annual Family Halloween Event, Harvest Dinner, Concerts and other community gatherings)
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Provide Space for Recreation Center (youth sports, open gym, weight room, athletic fields, exercise classes, yoga, etc.)
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Provide Public Meeting Space (meeting room on a reserved basis for community groups, family events, organizations, etc.)
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Community Kitchen
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Provide Space for Business Incubator offices
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Provide Non-profit Office Space
Holland Community Center was formed on June 6, 2021, the State of Vermont recognized as a legitimate Corporation established under Vermont Statutes. We established a founding Board of Directors, established our Articles of Association, secured a Federal ID Number and a DUNNS Number, and established our fiscal year to end on June 30th of each year.
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Holland accepted the Grant and established a group of community members to study the alternatives and come up with some recommendations. A town meeting took place to get ideas and then voted on those Ideas an overwhelming number of people that were at that meeting voted for a community center. Many of the other things that had high votes that day were things that the community center would like to incorporate such as short classes on various topics like canning and food saving.
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In the Spring of 2021, the Holland School District voters were sent a mail in vote. With a passing rate of 98% to create a community center. The School Board indicated a desire to carry the ongoing expense of maintaining the building in their budget for a period of about three years to enable the town the opportunity to explore how the Community Center would be operated and how it would be funded.
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Knowing that the Town of Holland did not have the resources to cover the expense or time to put this together, several of the members of the community decided to take the process one step further and form a not-for-profit to handle the activities of the Holland Community Center.
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Present
We are presently continuing to work on establishing ourselves as a not-for-profit organization, and our planning is focused around getting the community back together. We have conducted, and are planning the following:
Creating a community Garden. The garden was tilled, planted, and maintained by board members. The Garden will be for all local residents to enjoy and pick food or flowers from. The purpose of the garden is to provide a space for locals to gather, enjoy the beauty of nature, feed those who visit it, donate crops to the local food shelf, and to provide fresh organic veggies to our harvest dinner event.
The garden is located at the old Holland elementary school grounds just north of the building. After the initial establishment of the garden about 10% of our time will be dedicated to the garden. The garden was funded by donation of time from the board and goods from local businesses.
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Our community has reached out and asked for a walking path. This walking path will begin breaking ground next summer. The walking path will be focused on exercise for elderly and learning. Holland Vermont is very hilly, has no side walks or parks where the elderly can get out and walk. This would be about a ¼ mile loop that will be smooth with only small and slight incline. The walkway will be covered in a low growing herb that smells great to walk through, and will not impede walking. In years after establishment we will work on the education part of the walking path. This will include growing groups of plants that will be along the side of the path that will have informational plaques describing the plant. An example is yarrow. A group of Yarrow will grow next to the path and the plaque will inform walkers what it is, how to use it, and how/ when to harvest it. The walking path will be located on the Holland School grounds. Once the path is established 10% of our time will go towards adding to and maintaining the path. The path will be funded by donation of time from the board, goods from local businesses and donation from the community.
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We held our first Event for the community on September 25th. For the Harvest dinner we invited all to bring a dish to share. We did a Halloween trunk or treat. We hosted a Christmas tree lighting in December. Our events are primarily be held in and around the school. This will be funded by donation of items and money from community members.
Future
Starting 2022 we will start MeetUps of various topics. Some of the MeetUps we are going to work setting up; yoga, canning, food saving, cooking, and first aid. These MeetUps will be put on by local professionals and community members. There have been many residents that expressed wanting to learn and get together to participate in community MeetUps.
