“Four years after Corpus Christi Catholic Church closed its doors, the Grand Boulevard building it once called home will become a youth community center.
“The Sylvester Broome Empowerment Village Chicago Impact Center bought the former church building at 4920 S. King Drive. in May with plans to move its operations there. Cassandra Mathews, the center’s director of strategic operations and engagement, shared the organization’s vision for the site at a June 25 3rd Ward town hall.
“The building will be cleaned out over the summer in preparation for the Flint, Michigan-based nonprofit’s offices, with an eye on an October move-in. Onsite programs will begin early next year, and renovations will start a few months later. The team expects to have the center fully operational by 2027, Mathews said.
“Sylvester Broome Empowerment Village offers year-round free programs built around athletics, art education, performing arts and wellness. Classes in music production, culinary arts and nutrition, and robotics are among those offered.
“Plans call for the former cathedral area to be converted into a multipurpose space with a stage for performances and a basketball court for sports, said Mathews, adding that the center is also working to retrofit the flooring to allow for other sports to be played, including flag football. The center would host community events as well, Mathews said.
“‘We understand that Corpus Christi, previously, when it was a functioning church, was not just a place for worship,’ Mathews said. ‘It was a place for community engagement. It was a place of education. They had a school building there as well, and it really was a community hub. We trying to keep that legacy alive.”
“‘We hope to really transform under our underserved communities. We understand how important it is for us to reinvest in our communities — especially in an area so prominent as the Corpus Christi building — and really ensure that we are promoting equitable communities by developing and investing in our youth,’ Mathews said. (Nesbitt Golden, Block Club Chicago, 7/8/25)
This is an outstanding preservation-oriented outcome for Corpus Christi. This beautiful church was a Preservation Chicago 2021 Chicago 7 Most Endangered. We worked closely with stakeholders to help protect the church between closure in 2021 and reuse when it was most vulnerable.
We worked with Andy Schcolnik who purchased Corpus Christi Church from the Chicago Archdiocese and stabilized it. We’ve worked very closely with Andy Schcolnik for decades and are thrilled that such a good steward is rescuing these significant historic buildings.
“‘This amazing structure was facing … possible demolition as an outcome, without Andy’s commitment,’ Miller said, adding he hopes the church could be converted into an arts venue.
“‘It would be nice to see the actual church sanctuary be used for some type of community theater or something like that,’ he said. (Bey, Chicago Sun-Times, 7/5/24)
Read the full story at Block Club Chicago and the Chicago Sun-Times
- Bronzeville’s Former Corpus Christi Church To Get New Life As Youth Center; Sylvester Broome Empowerment Village, which offers free year-round arts and athletic programs for kids, will take over the space in the fall. The nonprofit aims to be fully operational by 2027, Jamie Nesbitt Golden, Block Club Chicago, 7/8/25
- Is Bronzeville’s historic Corpus Christi Church slated for resurrection? The vacated, century-old church on South Martin Luther King Drive has been sold and reuse is planned, Lee Bey, Chicago Sun-Times, 7/5/24
- Catholic archdiocese should work more openly to preserve historic Chicago churches; The churches are owned by the archdiocese, but the practical reality is that the buildings belong to all of us, Chicago Sun-Times, Editorial Board, 8/6/21