Kids are a central focus for some of North Lawrence’s most thriving businesses.
| 2018 Q4 | story by writer Bob Luder | photos by Steven Hertzog
Sept. 16, 2016, is a day Becky Price will never forget. It was her first day on the job as executive director of the Elizabeth Ballard Community Center. It also was the first day of a new school term for the center’s preschool. Price had been told by the center’s board of directors that, if she hadn’t accepted the offer to fill the executive director’s role, the center was to be closed. Nothing like a little pressure to succeed.
Except, there was an immediate crisis afoot.
“The first day I came in, the health department came in for an inspection,” Price says, chuckling to herself at the still-fresh memory. “They told me a piece of old playground equipment needed to be taken out, and ceiling tiles needed to be changed out in the women’s bathroom. This needed to be done before we could open, and school was starting that day.”
Ballard Kids
So, Price did what any executive director desperate to get things done—and, done immediately—would do: She drove straight down the street to the neighborhood resident gentlemen’s club, walked in and started looking for contractors.
She succeeded in finding those contractors, got the issues resolved that day, and school started uninterrupted. Today, more than two years later, Price oversees a Ballard Community Center that not only offers early childhood education but an array of civic services—food bank, mobile pantry and emergency services such as home-based family therapy and financial assistance—all designed to get families out of poverty.
The Ballard Center is one of a handful of North Lawrence entities that services children. Emmalee Schaumburg, Schaumburg Photography, located in a beautiful, old stone building on Locust Street, captures lifelong memories with her artful portraits of children, ranging from newborns to high school seniors, and families. And G-Force Athletics, on Second Street, has been training competitive cheer teams and tumbling and trampoline teams since 2004.
But back to Price and her first day at the Ballard Center. She says it was that day she realized she had chosen the right place to come to work and exercise her passion of helping those less fortunate.
Ballard Kids
“I had lived in Lawrence since 1980 but hadn’t had much exposure to North Lawrence,” she says. “Since I took this job two years ago, I’ve just fallen in love with it. It’s more of a community than any other place in town. Neighbors look out for each other.
“North Lawrence takes care of its own,” she continues.
Building Ballard
The building that houses the Ballard Community Center has been in its location at 708 Elm St. for 104 years. It served as an all-black school before desegregation in 1955. In 1964, the center was purchased by Anna “Petey” Cerf, who dedicated it to the memory of her mother, Elizabeth B. Ballard, and donated it to the Community Children’s Center Inc. for use as a community center to benefit the citizens of Lawrence.
Three years later, a library opened at the center with 1,000 books. It’s reported in the library’s first 5½ weeks that more than 600 books were checked out, mostly by eager young children who never before had the opportunity to use a library.
As the years went by, Ballard continued to grow and host more programs for children, teens and adults fallen on hard times. The center served as a drop-in center for black teens from 1969 to 1975, a period that coincided with social unrest in Lawrence. In 1975, after-school and youth summer programs were developed, and the next year, academics were added to the program.
In 2003, Ballard acquired the Emergency Service Council and began operating the only emergency rent and utility assistance program in all of Douglas County. That commitment continued two years later when the center acquired Penn House, a nonprofit human services agency that just recently moved into the main building on Elm Street.
Today, the Ballard Center, which is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, operates on a $700,000 annual budget and is probably best known for its affordable preschool, which cares for up to 48 students ages 2 to kindergarten.
“Our mission is to get families out of poverty,” Price says. “We see the main way of doing that is through our preschool.”
But the Ballard Community Center does so much more. Not only is the mission to provide affordable, high-quality early education but also essential basic life assistance for low-income families and individuals in need. It does so through a variety of programs. The food bank not only ensures that the preschool’s children are fed breakfast, lunch and two healthy snacks daily, but also serves the Douglas County community.
There is a basic needs pantry which provides items such as diapers for young children and personal hygiene items such as soap, shampoo and deodorant for adults. It provides low-income families information and guidance to local resources. A Holiday Bureau provides holiday gifts for 180 low-income households with children. The mobile pantry travels with personal supplies to areas in need.
And, Price says, none of it would be possible without the largesse and sense of community that is North Lawrence. Whether it’s reaching out to Ted Boyle, a 45-year resident and president of the North Lawrence Improvements Association, searching for help on social media or marching down to the local gentlemen’s club, Price knows help in the area is readily available.
“Because our building is 104 years old, it’s always falling apart,” she says. “But you can always find a good handyman in the neighborhood. North Lawrence has its own Facebook page, its own newsletter. If any of us needs anything, all we have to do is post it there.
“If our night lights outside the building aren’t on, I’ll get a call from one of the neighbors,” Price continues. “Tim and Kalene Sanders, of Sanders Software (Consulting Inc.), put our new phone system in for free and updated our internet. There’s no place in the Lawrence area I’d rather be.”
Emmalee Schaumburg working a photo session in her photo studio at 500 Locust Street with Dr. Steve Segebrecht.
Capturing Lifelong Memories
Emmalee Schaumburg housed her photography studio in a space on North Second Street for 2½ years before moving to her current location four years ago, when she was eight months pregnant with her daughter, Lily. The beautiful, late-1800s structure, with huge windows covering the front side, served as the post office long ago, when North Lawrence was its own entity. The postmaster lived upstairs.
“I love it here,” Schaumburg says. “The north-facing lighting is great.”
On a rainy fall Friday in October, Schaumburg photographs a sleeping newborn while the baby’s parents watch anxiously over her shoulder.
In addition to photographing babies and high school seniors, Schaumburg says she photographs a lot of headshots for hospital and doctor groups, and she also is getting into architectural photography.
“I’ll do maybe 5 to 6 weddings a year,” she says. “And lately, I like fashion and beauty work.”
She settled on North Lawrence as home for her business for the same reason many do—cheaper rent—but says there’s much more to like about the area.
“I always enjoy going to the antique stores (in the area),” she says. “It always seems like a quaint area.”
While she says her involvement with North Lawrence has been limited thus far, she was involved in getting the area’s businesses involved in the greater Lawrence area’s monthly Final Fridays celebrations and has done some work for the aforementioned antique stores. She says she’s open to more community endeavors moving forward.
“I do everything with the business—invoicing, marketing—so I just try to stay focused,” she says. “The industry is always evolving, so just staying relevant is important. Also, staying inspired is a big thing for any artist.”
That might be an area where the charm of North Lawrence can help serve Schaumburg well in the future.
Flipping Over—and in—North Lawrence
Hallie Godfrey, who co-owns G-Force Athletics with husband Jimmy, says she’s always liked North Lawrence, because the tight community has always reminded her of her small-town roots. The Godfreys originally staked their business on the city’s south side, on 23rd Street near Haskell Indian Nations University, in 2004 but moved north across the river when the economy sunk into recession in 2008.
“In 2009, the economy wasn’t good, and the rent at our old place got too high,” Godfrey says. “(North Lawrence) was a more affordable area to be in. It was really a blessing to find this place. It has great highway access. We have kids come here from Topeka, Kansas City, Tonganoxie. It’s worked out real well for us.”
Godfrey says in the beginning, she could tell people were a bit apprehensive about coming into North Lawrence.
“They simply didn’t know about it,” she says. “But my kids are 9 and 13. They’ve grown up in North Lawrence. I’ve always felt they’re safe here.
“The community-mindedness in North Lawrence makes a big difference,” Godfrey continues. “Anytime we’re looking for a service provider, we look in North Lawrence. And anytime there’s a new business that opens here, we try to give them new business.”
G-Force Athletics isn’t a typical cheer and tumbling academy. It offers competitive cheer programs—cheerleading is a power sport here—and athletes can travel with competitive All-Star cheer teams and compete at high levels. G-Force also offers recreational tumbling and trampoline programs. At any given time, it has 60 to 75 competitive athletes and another 50 to 100 recreational students.
“Because parents stay close by when their kids are here, whether that’s getting gas or going somewhere to get a snack … ,” Godfrey says. “That’s where we’re contributing to (the North Lawrence) economy.”
She says G-Force also has participated in civic events, whether having a presence at summer festivals or opening the gymnasium to the public on Monday evenings or Saturday mornings. The Godfreys held a tip-off party for the public when the business moved in in 2009. They also host a petting zoo annually for children in the area.
“Whether it’s blood drives or bone marrow registry during summers, we’re pretty consistent in being out in the community,” Godfrey says. “When we moved into this area, there wasn’t much around us. It’s been great seeing all the new business come in.
“I think North Lawrence had been a well-kept secret in this area in the past, but not anymore,” she says.
Ballard Thanksgiving.