Future Healthy Community Center

In January 2019, The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center purchased the former Martin Luther King Jr. Library near East Hospital in alignment with the PACT Blueprint for Community Transformation. The site is now in the planning stages for renovation and will become the Healthy Community Center.

  • Investment of $5.1 million by The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center
  • Existing one-story building is a former library with approximately 8,900 GSF
  • Location offers access to 7 COTA bus lines

Timeline

  • Spring/Summer 2023 — Construction begins
  • Winter 2023 — Construction complete
  • Early 2024 — Opening

Healthy Community Center Floor Plan

Cornerstones of programming

By providing education, teaching skills, building knowledge and offering support and encouragement, we aim to deliver programming that provides a safe space to meet members where they are in the community.

The center will provide health and wellness information and resources about healthy food, nutritional guidelines and will help to facilitate the development and use of everyday life skills to empower community members and cultivate partnerships.

Rendering of the Healthy Community Center

“Without a sense of caring, there can be no sense of community.”
Anthony J. D’Angelo, author

The Healthy Community Center will be a hub for community building and will include:

demonstration kitchen

Teaching Kitchen

  • Demonstration kitchen for food presentations and demos for up to 30 people for an interactive session and up to 50 people for a food demo session
  • Educational demos will cover nutritional topics related to diabetes, cancer, heart disease and obesity
  • Teaching sessions will focus on participants' current skills, education and prior experience
Mother and her child with a group of friends at an outdoor cafe

Café

  • Through partnerships with independent restaurant entrepreneurs, the cafe will offer a variety of culinary options
  • There will be food and beverage options for residents of the Near East Side to enjoy while using the center as a gathering space
  • Indoor and outdoor seating will be available
group of people gathered around a table reading books

Gathering Space

  • There will be 3 conference rooms that can be easily scaled for larger meetings/events or catered events
  • Conference rooms will accommodate 40 attendants/per room and can hold up to 120 attendants in total
  • These spaces will be available to the business community and nonprofit and local organizations
Person picking up tomatoes

Healthy Foods

  • Educational opportunities will teach residents about the importance of healthy foods for disease prevention
  • There will be fun social events centered around healthy eating

Additional programming and opportunities available at the Healthy Community Center will include:

  • Moms2B meeting site
  • Health and wellness activities
  • Health screening events
  • Smoking cessation
  • Cancer risk education and coaching
  • Supporting the lifespan: Outreach to seniors, families, youth development “Kids in the Kitchen”
  • Movie and lecture series

Your feedback is important to us. Share ideas and feedback about the Healthy Community Center with Joshua.Joseph@osumc.edu and William.Hayes@osumc.edu.