Colorado elementary school to be transformed into a vibrant mental health community hub
In the last couple of years, we have seen several school districts close schools due to low enrollment. In 2022, the Aurora Public School Board voted to close Sable and Paris Elementary Schools. Sable Elementary was transformed into a preschool and is now Sable Child Development Center. Plans are in place for the former Paris Elementary School to become a three-story community hub.
"We're bring life to an area that was full of joy and excitement," said Daniel Sampson, owner and founder of Driven by Our Ambitions. Sampson's company provides mental health and therapy services to the youth.
With the school vacant, it was decided that it would be repurposed. Dr. Janiece Mackey, who is the Cofounder and CEO of Young Aspiring Americans for Social Political Activism approached Sampson, as well as D.L Pos Ryan and Andre Carbonell, with Peace Youth Organization to form the ABC Collective. The three Black-owned businesses combined their efforts to make Paris Elementary into a place that will offer health and wellness programming, civic engagement, educational and workforce development.
"Resources around food and nutrition. Resources around child care. Resources around mental health. resources around different trades and different career paths they could get access to," Sampson said.
One way Sampson is turning the quiet hallways into a mental health community hub is by using a barber chair, a weight room and a boxing ring. He said he wanted to use those nontraditional spaces as a way to open up new ways for people to talk about their mental health.
"This chair itself is like the wonder woman truth serum. As soon as a man from a certain culture sits in it, they feel welcomed. They feel like they can be venerable," he said. "It's just an access point for especially, adolescence and men of color to enter into the spaces to receive mental health."
Sampson and the rest of the ABC Collective hopes the building will be ready to serve the North Aurora community early next year.
