A.D. Harris Learning Village renamed Community Resilience Center, celebrates grand opening

PANAMA CITY, Fla. (WJHG/WECP) - The A.D. Harris Learning Village has a new name. It is now known as the A.D. Harris Community Resilience Center.

The community celebrated the grand opening of the center, which will serve as a hub to connect people with services and resources.

“The vision for the whole campus is for it to be a place the community knows they can come get help,” said Donna Pilson, executive director of Rebuild Bay County. “If you don’t know where to go, you can always start here at the A.D. Harris Community Resilience Center.”

The building itself has a long history of educating the community, serving as an elementary school and later a high school.

“In about 2009, it ceased to become a high school, and in 2013 it transferred from the school district to the Downtown North Community Redevelopment Agency,” Pilson said.

Rebuild Bay County calls the A.D. Harris Community Resilience Center home. The organization said that in recent years it has used the building to address community needs, such as food and shelter assistance, and disaster care.

“The vision has always been to use it, once it transitioned out of a school, to use it for some type of community service,” Pilson said.

Recent renovations are helping that vision grow.

“We’ve looked at every one of the spaces to see what, from a maintenance standpoint, needs to be done,” said Pilson. “We’ve done a lot of painting; we’ve upgraded some of the floors, so we have classrooms that are available. We’ve done a lot of work in our kitchen and cafeteria to make that operational.”

Rebuild Bay County leaders say they hope to see the center continue to grow as they continue to serve.

They say it would not be possible without its volunteers and community partners like United Way of Northwest Florida.

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