Community project funding/congressionally directed spending - construction - the havana community development corporation (hcdc) is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization established in rural gadsden…

Community project funding/congressionally directed spending - construction - the havana community development corporation (hcdc) is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization established in rural gadsden county, florida in 2009. In 2011 the organization purchased the old northside high school in havana, florida, which formerly housed the city's first and only african american high school. The school was shut down in 2003 to reduce the number of high schools in the county, stemming from budget cuts necessitated by eroding economic conditions in the county. This treasured GEM of the african american community remained vacant for seven (7) years following its closure in 2003 and (after being scheduled for demolition by the gadsden county school district) was purchased by the hcdc for $200,000 in 2011. From its humble beginnings in 2011, through the efforts of innumerable northside high graduates, retired faculty, residents, volunteers, boosters and philanthropists in the campus has been transformed into a property now valued on the gadsden county property tax rolls at $1,420,000.00. In 2019 the hcdc applied for and was granted placement of the campus on the federal registry of historic places. The hcdc intends to modernize and RE-purpose approximately 15,000 SQ. FT of space in its 50,000 SQ. FT. Facility for the establishment of a branch healthcare clinic through gadsden county's health department (or a federally qualified health center (fqhc) "look-alike" center) for rural northeast gadsden county, florida. From a programmatic standpoint the funds for this project will be used : 1) to design develop, and integrate a secure, web-based telehealth network technology platform, enabling remote clinical consults over state-of-the-art health information software and architecture, using an advanced fiber optic internet infrastructure, delivering electronic medical interventions; 2) to make substantial capital improvements to the overall facility with specific focus on a new medical grade ventilation / HVAC system, upgrading elec trical and lighting, rewiring for broadband, and update plumbing; 3) to upgrade interior offices, classrooms, labs and restrooms to covid-compliant standards (with embedded technology supports); 4) to establish a regional children's vaccine, supply and logistics distribution center, creating county-wide economies of scale in in the procurement and distribution (as needed) of personal protective equipment (PPE), onsite medical testing, vaccines, etc., ensuring governmental program integrity, program effectiveness and fraud avoidance through centralization of vaccine storage, equipment purchasing and distribution processes; 5) to provide medical services space, administrative space, office space and transitional space (e.g., isolation wards, patient rooms, sterile "clean rooms", scrub up areas, decontamination rooms, and rest areas, etc.); 6) to add two (2) new aquaponic grow houses to the organization's existing three (3) aquaponic grow houses for the production of fresh vegetables and fish for use in the hcdc's healthy foods teaching kitchen; 7) to transform the existing agriculture building (currently equipped with a large oversized "elephant door") into a 2-BAY EMS station & law enforcement dispatch center to facilitate improved response times in this area of the county and to house county law enforcement emergency/fire/ EMS vehicles; 8) to act as a purveyor of hot meals onsite or utilizing no-contact home delivery via the (proposed) hcdc hot meals food truck to ensure that qualified schoolchildren with transportation challenges will receive a healthy, nutrient-dense hot meal in the evenings at least two (2) days per week, thereby helping to ameliorate the adverse effects of a rural "food desert"; 9) to incorporate a "stem GYM" in its programmatic list of options preparing disadvantaged gadsden county youth interested in pursuing careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics through a specially-tailored teaching curriculum.