PROCEED Plans New Youth and Health Complex on St. Paul’s East Side
PROCEED, a longtime East Side nonprofit based at Progressive Baptist Church, is moving forward with plans to build a youth and community complex designed to expand access to education, health care, and economic resources. The new facility will bring together youth programming, medical care, mental health services, and workforce development in one centralized space serving residents across generations.
PROCEED, a Christian organization focused on connecting residents to education, health care, and economic resources, is building a youth complex designed to meet the East Side’s evolving community needs.
Currently housed at Progressive Baptist Church in St. Paul’s Battle Creek neighborhood, PROCEED offers programming that includes youth summer camps, college tours, and a food pantry. The new complex, which will be added to the church’s campus, will consolidate those services while introducing new amenities, including a gym, workforce development center, M Health Fairview medical clinic, and Therapeuo Mental Health Clinic.
Morgan Carrillo, who oversees administrative and operational processes for PROCEED, said the complex will serve as a hub for consistent programming and community health. Groundbreaking is scheduled for April, with hopes of opening its doors in October.
The project carries a $9,949,855 price tag. PROCEED is actively fundraising and has secured several financial partners to support construction.
One major partner is Progressive Baptist Church. Pastor Emeritus Earl Miller founded PROCEED 27 years ago as the Progressive Center for Education and Economic Development before the organization transitioned to governance by a board of members.
Carrillo said the vision for the complex grew out of longstanding efforts to bridge service gaps observed in the community over the years. Additional funding and partnerships for the project have come from the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development, the University of Minnesota Medical School and the Minnesota Department of Education.
While PROCEED has historically focused on social and economic development, leaders say the health and clinic component was later shaped through community-informed public health work conducted in partnership with the University of Minnesota’s School of Public Health and Progressive Baptist Church’s health ministry.
Jo Ann Clark, founder of the Thinking College Early Fair and the Progressive Baptist Church Historically Black Colleges and Universities tour, is involved in shaping the youth programming at the center. She said the complex is designed to meet the needs of residents across generations, from infants to elders.
Clark moved to St. Paul’s East Side in the 1980s and has witnessed the gradual loss of local businesses and health care services. She said the new center will help address longstanding concerns around employment access, medical care, and mental health support.
The University of Minnesota’s M Health Fairview will operate the on-site medical clinic, alongside the Alter Program, which focuses on the prevalence of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease within the African American community.
Therapeuo Mental Health, a clinic serving Black, Indigenous and people of color, will also be housed in the complex. Clark said culturally responsive mental health care is particularly important for youth whose lives were disrupted during the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Most kids who look like us won’t express what they’re going through when they can’t talk to somebody who looks like them,” Clark said. “So to me, that one component is very important.”
The overall goal of the complex is to strengthen the physical, spiritual, and holistic well-being of communities of color on St. Paul’s East Side.
While PROCEED already hosts community events, the expanded space will allow for additional programming and cultural celebrations, including quinceañeras, Hmong New Year gatherings, and Liberian and Nigerian cultural events.
Clark said the site’s location on a bus line will increase accessibility for residents without reliable transportation. “These other places, some of them, if you don’t have transportation it’s kind of hard to get to them, and there’s a need,” she said.
Families from nearby apartment buildings already frequent the food pantry, Clark added. “Can you imagine them being able to walk up the street and everything is there?” she said, referring to the gym, event space, and clinics planned for the site.
“I’m excited when I think about what we are doing,” Clark said. “I can see what we are building for our future.”
Damenica Ellis is a freelance journalist and contributing writer for the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder.