Maryland Deaf Community Center to be built in Frederick
In Frederick, Maryland, an organization called the Maryland Deaf Community Center (MDCC) plans to build a 11,000 square feet building and use it as a Deaf community center.
[Full-screen image showing drawings of the future building, Credit: MDCC]
The MDCC has raised $3.5 million from city, county and state government and purchased 1.7 acres of land. The MDCC is working to raise another $1.5 million.
Here is an interview with three people on the MDCC board.
[Begin interview]
Linda Stoltz: My name is Linda Stoltz, President.
Lori Bonheyo: I’m *Lori Bonheyo, Vice-President.
Marsha Flowers: I’m Marsha Flowers, board member on outreach.
Alex: How did you come up with the idea to build a place? Can you explain a bit of history?
Linda: The building’s purpose is to be a social center, provide workshops and education, and serve those from the elderly to infants, hearing parents of deaf children, and others. The facility will be for all of them. In Maryland, statewide, we provide referrals. If someone asks for help, we refer them. We help senior citizens with reading letters that have to do with Medicaid or Medicare.
In 2019 — here in Frederick County, we have about 26 organizations — we decided to call for a meeting. A common issue that they had is finding a place for meetings or social gatherings. We took a pulse to see their interest in working together and getting in touch with the state to see if they can provide a deaf center. All of them said, “Yes!” So we had a lot of support from the community. We also had a town hall where people came and we asked what they wanted. They said a conference room, a meeting room, ASL classes, a gym, and a kitchen. So that started the process.
Marsha: Historically, here in Frederick, most deaf people are here because of the Maryland School for the Deaf. But today, that’s not true anymore. Almost 80% of (deaf) people who live here work for the federal government. Or some think it’s a nice place to live and move here. Some deaf children’s parents or extended family members decide to move here. When we attend sports matches, we realize that there’s no center. So we (on the board) knew there has to be a center.
Alex: Now, where are you on this project? What is the timeline? When will construction be completed? When will it start? Funding? Where are you at currently?
Lori: Right now… we already bought a property on 720 N East Street. We bought the property. It already had a house and an old warehouse. It was too expensive to renovate so we decided to tear it down. So right now the property is completely flat. We are working with the city to make sure we are meeting all their codes. They have many new codes so we have to be compliant. It takes time, so we are guessing that when is the fall, we will break ground. Then construction will happen and if all goes right, around June 2024, the center should be ready. If not, July, or sometime during the summer of 2024.
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[Interview resumes]
Alex: You got the funds from a (state) senator, as well as from the county and the city. Three different sources of funding. Now you are trying to fundraise more and what does that look like?
Marsha: We are trying to fundraise by hosting events at bars or restaurants where deaf people gather and we get 10% of the proceeds. Also bingo, trivia games, ASL classes, private donations, pledges — we learned this from Minnesota, they said they lived on pledge support — so we set that up here.
Lori: We also send out letters to different companies out there, foundations, some have special funds, so we are asking for their donations. That’s what we are doing right now.
Linda: We are working with a grant writer to help us with writing various grants on an ongoing basis. We are getting funds.
[End interview]
Alex: It is an exciting vision for the Maryland Deaf community. An article on the Frederick News-Post said the engineer for the building is a deaf man from Indiana named Anthony Maginity.
[Full-screen image showing MDCC meeting with Anthony Malignity presenting, Credit: MDCC]
Thank you, MDCC, for your time. Best of luck to the organization as they continue to fundraise and work towards creating a place.
*Correction: Lori Bonheyo’s name tag was misspelled. It is supposed to read, “Lori Bonheyo.”