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After Historic Southside residents learned they may lose their community center to make way for the National Juneteenth Museum, city officials say they’re committed to relocating the center’s services to another neighborhood facility. Speaking to dozens of residents at Van Zandt-Guinn Elementary School Feb. 3, city staff presented a tentative plan to move the Southside Community Center’s services less than half a mile away to the Hazel Harvey Peace Center for Neighborhoods at 818 Missouri Ave.The plan comes nearly four months after city officials asked Southside residents if they would support the Juneteenth museum’s proposal to demolish the neighborhood’s community center and build the museum in its place. While several residents at the initial October meeting supported the museum’s construction, some raised questions about displacing services offered at the community center. For the Juneteenth museum, the opportunity to demolish the community center and build at the corner of East Rosedale Street and New York Avenue would solve one of the museum’s pressing problems. Despite acquiring land in the neighborhood, the museum has been unable to acquire key plots necessary for its original plans.Fort Worth City Council member Chris Nettles, who represents the Historic Southside, told residents during the Feb. 3 presentation it was “imperative” to him that the city find a new home for the center’s services. “Even before I heard from the community, I said you cannot take a historical Southside Community Center away from the neighborhood and say we’re not gonna replace it with nothing else,” Nettles told the Report after the meeting. “If we’re gonna move that Southside Community Center, we have to pick it up and put it in one location to make sure that the community does not lose its home or history.”City staff will present a resolution to City Council members Feb. 11 outlining the plan to relocate Southside Community Center services to the Hazel Harvey Peace Center, Assistant City Manager William Johnson said.If adopted, the resolution would also reaffirm council’s commitment to the Juneteenth museum and authorize city management to execute a lease with the museum for the Southside property, he added. Assistant City Manager William Johnson speaks during a presentation on Fort Worth’s Southside Community Center on Feb. 3, 2025, at Van Zandt-Guinn Elementary School. (Cecilia Lenzen | Fort Worth Report)Services would not be relocated until the National Juneteenth Museum is fully funded and ready to break ground, Nettles said. Museum officials previously said they hope to break ground in time for a 2026 opening. In October 2024, the nonprofit had $36 million raised — over half of its $70 million goal to start building. “If they get funding tomorrow, then we may be doing this within a year, but we’re anticipating, or expecting that it may take at least a couple years to get the rest of that funding,” Nettles said. Juneteenth museum CEO Jarred Howard did not immediately return a request for comment on the museum’s fundraising and timeline. How will services fit inside Hazel Harvey Peace Center?The Southside Community Center is a hub for various city-run programs, including the Best Years Club, after school programs, summer day camps and special events. It serves as a meeting space for young students and older residents alike, as well as a voting center during local elections. As busy as it is, the roughly 19,000-square-foot center has fallen into disrepair and is in need of at least $10 million in repairs, according to a 2022 condition report commissioned by the city. At about 36,600 square feet, the Hazel Harvey Peace Center currently houses city staff, including the Diversity and Inclusion Department. Some committees, such as the Human Relations Commission and Mayor’s Committee on Persons with Disabilities, host their meetings at the center. The center’s namesake, Hazel Bernice Harvey Peace, was a Black activist and humanitarian in Fort Worth. A prolific volunteer who served on several city boards and commissions, Peace was known as the “matriarch” of I.M. Terrell High School. She worked there from 1924 to 1972 until it closed due to court-ordered desegregation. The school became known for the quality of its college-prep curriculum thanks to Peace’s efforts to make up for its lack of resources during the segregation era. She died in 2008, one year before Fort Worth opened the Hazel Harvey Peace Center. If the relocation proposal proceeds as planned, the Southside Community Center’s services will be housed on the first floor of the Hazel Harvey Peace Center. Roughly 1,200 square feet on the first floor would be set aside for the Best Years Club and other community meetings, said Dave Lewis, deputy parks and recreation director. Roughly 2,000 square feet will be used for larger events, including youth, after school and summer programs. Separate areas of the floor will be used for staff offices, kitchen and storage space and a waiting area.Before landing on the current plan, city staff considered splitting up the Southside Community Center’s services between the Ella Mae Shamblee Library, the Atatiana Carr-Jefferson Community Center at Hillside and the Bethlehem Center. “Some of our goals, again, were to move the entire center to Hazel Harvey so that they keep the synergy of all those programs together,” Lewis said. To clear space for the move, diversity and inclusion staff would relocate to new City Hall at 100 Fort Worth Trail, a transition that was already in motion as the city moves most of its staff and administrative services to the nearly complete building. Construction on the new City Hall building is expected to be complete in early 2025. The city would also rename the facility to become the Southside Community Center at Hazel Harvey Peace Center in an effort to preserve the neighborhood’s identity while honoring Hazel Harvey’s legacy, Nettles said. During the Monday presentation, several residents expressed support for the relocation plan and thanked city staff for brainstorming a plan to preserve their neighborhood services in one place.In response, Nettles urged attendees to continue voicing support or concerns surrounding the project, adding that they can attend the Feb. 11 council meeting to encourage his colleagues on the dais to support the resolution. David Moreno is the health reporter for the Fort Worth Report. His position is supported by a grant from Texas Health Resources. Contact him at david.moreno@fortworthreport.org or @davidmreports.Cecilia Lenzen is a government accountability reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact her at cecilia.lenzen@fortworthreport.org or @bycecilialenzen. At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.