College rebuilds, takes neighbors along

Seated in a conference room in Arkansas Baptist College’s Old Main, Fitz Hill glances at an old poster that asks churches to raise $40,000 to support the college’s library. The poster might be 50 years old, but not much has changed for the college. Its fate has always been tied to the health and generosity of the surrounding community.

Hill, the school’s president, grasped that on his first day at the college seven years ago. He couldn’t imagine students feeling safe, let alone donors who would consider touring the neighborhood.

The campus, at 1621 Dr. Martin Luther King Drive, was in bad shape in 2006. Old Main, the campus’s centerpiece, was at risk of demolition and surrounding buildings were falling apart. But crime near the campus was even more serious than the condition of the school’s buildings. Though the college had limited resources, Hill decided to make the neighborhood a priority.

“No one is going to pass by blight and show up in an oasis,” Hill said. “In order to improve the college, we had to improve the community.”

Since Hill became president, the school has bought more than 60 lots, renovated eight homes and revitalized two businesses. The college found support from banks and donors, and secured some federal funding.

“Our school has always been broke, and it’s no different today,” Hill said.

Construction began this month on a $6.3 million women’s residence hall. A Community Union - not a student union - will be completed in about eight months.

“The thing that really makes it difficult is we’re having to build the entire college,” said Billy Owens, executive vice president and chief financial officer for the college. “The basics that most colleges have, like the student center, we don’t have.”

Though big projects are easier to see than small renovations, Hill said, pockets of beauty in the neighborhood show what it can be with support and attention.

“If you go back and look, when the school’s doing well, the community’s doing well,” Hill said. “Crime was bad when the school wasn’t leading. That’s what educational institutions do. They’re think hubs for improvement, not isolationists.”

One of Hill’s first investments was to house the offices for the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of Arkansas at 1504 Dr. Martin Luther King Drive.

Charles Ray, who renovated the building and coordinates disaster-relief efforts from his office there, said that when he mentioned the building’s potential to Hill, he never expected what would come.

“We’re driving down this street, and this building was boarded up and had a condemned sign on it,” Ray said. “I made an offhand comment to Fitz. My brain just saw that sort of building as something with character, and I had no intention of it going anywhere.”

Ray would later ask Hill about the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of Arkansas buying the property. Hill replied that he would prefer that the college buy the building instead, since it was in the path of the school’s planned development.

The college bought the building - saving it from demolition - for about $29,000. The restoration cost $60,000.

“No sooner than when the first board came off the house, people would slow down and honk their horns,” Ray said. “They started stopping and telling us story after story after story. People really started caring, and they got excited.”

The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of Arkansas has rented the building from Arkansas Baptist College since it was completed about six years ago.

The project also kick-started Ray’s involvement with refurbishing buildings for the college. He spent more than three years renovating homes and building a restaurant in the neighborhood while he was employed by the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship.

Ray had help from a group of about 13 workers who were paid by the college. Ray said he received a small stipend, but mostly worked on the homes as a hobby.

“Fitz’s job was to save the college. He had very little help and no money,” Ray said. “I’m sure he didn’t have a vision of rehabbing a neighborhood.”

In 2007, Hill directed Arkansas Baptist College to purchase one of the most dangerous lots in Little Rock - a carwash across the street from where Yancey’s Soul Food is today.

There were 36 police reports filed from that location in 2006, including stabbings and robberies. By 2009, there were none. Hill said the most serious thing to happen in recent memory was the theft of quarters.

The property, located at 1423 Wright Ave., cost the college $200,000. About $100,000 in upgrades were paid for by a gift and fundraising efforts. A Krispy Crunchy Chicken franchise was added to the property.

Hill said the facility will pay for itself in about six years, but that’s not the point.

“It’s not about making money. It’s really about not losing money,” Hill said “Having that there, it makes money because the community’s safer, and then people feel safe to come to school here.”

Hill attributes the drop in crime to the new facilities and neighbors who became the eyes and ears for the college at the car wash.

“Even if it didn’t make a dime, I think our city can be proud that now we’re engaging our community through self-sufficiency and security,” Hill said.

After four more years of property purchases, campus neighbors could see that the college was regaining its footing, but they didn’t know what that would mean for their property.

James Kinard, owner and chef at Yancey’s Soul Food, was worried at first. In 2011, he knew his restaurant was in the way of the college’s planned expansion.

“I was going to retire,” he said. “I asked [Hill] how long I had left.”

Hill was aware of the restaurant’s significance and asked Ray to look into building it a new home. Ray was unsure at first. He had never built a restaurant.

“I said, ‘You’re crazy. We’re not going in the restaurant business,” Ray said. “[Hill] said, ‘No, let me tell you something. The neighborhood is going to decide whether Fitz Hill is real or not based on what happens to Yancey’s.’ He made it very clear that whatever it was going to take, we were going to show the community that we cared.”

Kinard said it was time for something different. He said the building was worn out when he bought it for $9,000 in 1977.

“When you were eating, you had to hold the table so it wouldn’t fall,” he said.

Kinard’s new location, at 1510 Wright Ave., features all new appliances and sturdy tables.

Still, the project cost money. The grease trap cost $25,000. And finances were still tight for the college. Hill paid those working on the building every Friday, but never guaranteed that the project would continue after the weekend.

Hill said every project was completed without having to take out a loan by putting Ray’s reconstruction crew on the college payroll.

The old Yancey’s Soul Food building was demolished to make way for construction of the school’s Community Union. Kinard pays rent at the new location, but he said he’s happy in the new building.

Hill said maintaining good relationships with community members like Kinard will become increasingly important as the school grows.

Neighbors and the school’s 1,200 students were stunned when a student was shot and killed near campus last year, but Hill said the incident demonstrates the importance of the college’s mission to reach those who lack opportunity.

“Yes, that person needs to be arrested and held accountable, but I want to give hope to the next person,” he said. “Everyone reaches out to the best and brightest. We will do that, but maybe that’s not what it’s about.”

Despite the progress, Ray said he knows that parents and potential students remain leery when they see the neighborhood for the first time.

“From that angle, I think we’ve got to be able to do better than this, because if you see it for the first time, and you’re looking critically, I suggest to you that there’s not that much excitement yet,” Ray said. “You can see things happening, but you’re not sure where it’s going or where it’s been.”

“But if you saw it 20 years ago, if you saw it 60 years ago … it’s very exciting. I can’t imagine what it’s going to be in another 10.”

The article was published in The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette on June 2, 2013. To access the article from the newspaper’s website, click here. For a .pdf, click here.