Dieterich Receives More Than $2 Million Grant for Community Center

Dieterich Village Clerk Brittny Gipson said she was mighty excited Tuesday after Village officials got word a more than $2 million grant has been approved toward the cost of a community center.

The allocation for Dieterich is one of a series of grants statewide totaling $24.9 million. 

Gipson was excited that Dieterich was getting the grant, but also that Dieterich was the one downstate community to receive funding.

The grant funding will allow Dieterich to proceed with a development project to renovate a 16,600 square foot single-story, multi-use facility that will offer numerous much needed new recreation opportunities for residents of all ages and abilities in the community. 

The facility will have one large multi-use court with a retractable dividing curtain that can be converted to two multi-use courts. Portable bleachers will make this a very flexible gym space. In addition to basketball, these courts will also be striped for pickleball and volleyball. The facility will have cardio and weight equipment, a two-lane walking track around the gym, and three community rooms to allow for non-sport recreation opportunities like card and quilting tables, fitness classes, birthday parties, art programs, Kinder music, and other educational classes and social gatherings.

The one part of the plan for the community center not funded by the grant will be a daycare unit. Gipson said the grant funds can't be used on a daycare facility, so said village residents will continue with fundraising efforts to pay for that component. One major fundraising underway to help with that is a house raffle, where the person who purchases the winning ticket will win a house.