Reggie Lewis Center, BAA partnership concerns some community activists
BOSTON - On Thursday, a group of community leaders announced a new partnership at the Reggie Lewis Athletic Center in Roxbury with the Boston Athletic Association.
BAA donates $1.3 million to expand programming
The BAA, which is most known for hosting the Boston Marathon, is donating $1.3 million to the Reggie Lewis Center to help expand programming for fitness and more in the neighboring communities.
"It's huge," said Michael Turner, the Executive Director of the Center. "From the moment I stepped in here I saw what the Reggie could be, but we needed support to make it happen. We didn't have the funding to hire the fitness instructors, to hire the nutritionists, to hire the mental health professionals."
"Our support will enable longer hours, additional programming for athletes, community members, and families," added BAA President and CEO Jack Fleming.
Throughout the center, residents participated in dance cardio classes, kickboxing, and volleyball games after the announcement.
Fitness instructors like Stacey Marlow gushed over how the donation will make their work more possible. "Health is wealth," Marlow told WBZ. "You have to understand it's more than just walking but doing a class or lifting weights and being around people."
Community group opposes partnership
However, one community activist who has decades of history with the center was not present. Sadiki Kambon and his group, the Black Community Information Center, oppose the partnership.
"We are concerned because we know the building itself is prime property," Kambon said. "We know that there are organizations out there that would love to have that building. Partnership means 50-50. But when you give $1.3 million over the course of four years, that's chump change... That's not a partnership, that's a donation," he said.
Kambon's concern is that the BAA is donating money to get its foot in the door.
"We would not be surprised in a few years if they called it the 'Larry Bird Center,'" he said, referencing naming the facility after a famous White Celtics player rather than Lewis, the late Black Celtics great for whom the facility bears its name.
Kambon believes the BAA's presence in the facility shows "a real design... To eventually take that facility from us."
"BAA has always been a part of the Reggie"
However, the new leader of the Reggie Lewis Center does not share the same concerns whatsoever. "The BAA has always been a part of the Reggie," Michael Turner said. "They host about four events here for quite a while. What's new is they are putting their money where their mouth is to help the community."
"We have been welcomed by the Reggie, Roxbury Community College, and we're very happy to be supporting them," added BAA CEO Jack Fleming.