Established 1961

The Bray Center, Inc., a truly grassroots organization owned by a neighborhood located in a community beleaguered by poverty, crime, neglect, and unmet needs, is also enriched with a strong and proud history of residents and activists who have not given up on achieving self-determinism and contribution to the larger society. The purpose of the Bray Center is to effectively serve the community through a variety of programs, advocacy, and mutual development with residents toward reaching a unique destiny among a long oppressed and neglected people. Community activism frequently requiring political mobilization led to many years of non-partisan election education and mobilization of the people traditionally under-represented among the powers that be...leading to the movement "VOTE! It's a Power Thing" through which thousands of otherwise apathetic and inactive voters were literally moved to the polls.

The Bray Center came into existence in 1961 when concerned area residents came together at kitchen tables and on front stoops, on a voluntary basis to begin attacking assorted social and economic problems in the area. In 1964, the Franklin Neighborhood Association ("The Pink House") based at 816 Tenth St., became a funded program under the YWCA. Through 1966, the Association operated as a pilot program assisting neighborhood residents in the areas of employment, housing, recreation, guidance, and education. Soon after, the program was recommended for continuance via United Way funds, and the Urban League became the sponsoring agent.

In 1969, the Franklin Neighborhood Association put on an independent fund drive and purchased the present site at 924 Center St. On April 9, 1980, the Board of Directors voted to change the name of the organization/facility to the George Bray Neighborhood Center, Inc. in honor of long-time neighborhood resident, Mr. George Bray, whose past service included Board President, Executive Director, and the force behind the purchase of the Center Street property.

After a rocky decade under new leadership (after George Bray) in the 1980s, during which a $100,000 debt accrued and all funders withdrew, leaving a balance of $100 in the agency account (before the current leadership), the current administration took control in 1993, effectively eliminating the debt within three months via negotiations and private fundraising, and once again attracting the old funders as well as new ones, putting together an annual operating budget to support programs and services.

Community wide enthusiasm for the dynamic leadership and program development emerging from the Bray Center was difficult to contain. Through the nominal process of bringing together neighborhood residents, parents and youth, priorities were established for the course of the agency program development, which was driven by the acronym R.E.A.C.H. (Recreation, Education, Advocacy, Cultural Competence, Health). Physical and environmental changes drew oohs and aahs from historic visitors as the huge and leaking dome roof was repaired, partial wall partitions removed, portable hoops replaced with wall mounted baskets and mats.

In 1993, having established independence from any sponsoring agency by producing fiscal accountability reported by an independent auditor, gaining its own direct community support from United Way, City Development, and others, the Board of Directors voted to do-business-as Bray Center, Inc. In effect, marking the shift to responsibility and accountability with a modernized DBA organizational name.

In years past, programs to which the agency should soon return include: the original "Sisters", which targets the unique development of girls for their success in a society which appears to display hostility toward their very survival; the nationally acclaimed F.A.S.T. (Families and Schools Together), which was successfully adapted for the first time by the Bray Center to the neighborhood base.

Maybe best known for the original R.B.A. (Racine Basketball Association) operating for nearly ten years under the gang diversion initiative "Operation Survival", the Bray Center sometimes struggled to generate an accurate public perception. While producing high school graduation rates beating those of the local school district, as well as college entrants and graduates among the proverbially least likely to succeed, not to mention access to hundreds of thousands of grant and scholarship dollars for youth to go to college, (even an NBA All Star), not all members of the community (mostly for political gain) were as excited as so many others (participant youth and parents). A dramatic and deadly increase in violence within the surrounding neighborhood areas during the summer of 2006, led the Bray Center leadership to make the difficult but correct choice to end the R.B.A. as it was known. Today there is movement afoot to bring back the R.B.A. for neighborhood kids....more to come.

Today, the agency maintains the basics of R.E.A.C.H. focusing on asset development among youth and families; pre-college preparation starting in middle school through post-secondary education placement (GEAR UP); and gang diversion ("Operation Survival") through street level intervention, mentoring, academic planning, and life skills training; and still plenty of recreational basketball. The agency continues serving as a placement site for Department of Corrections, Senior Employment, Developmental Vocation Rehab, and community service for earning school or court credit. For these placement services, the agency receives no monetary support for the staff hours invested, which makes it a volunteer supported community service. Working with community leaders, development of a new program initiative targeting young men for holistic development in the areas of academic achievement/self-regulation/spiritual development/community responsibility is to emerge early in 2010.