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SALT LAKE CITY — A historic Salt Lake building is competing for $150,000 to restore and preserve its rich history.
The New Hope Community Center at 1102 W. 400 North is one of 20 contestants in the Partners in Preservation program, which selects historic buildings and sites across the country to compete for a total of $2 million in grants.
The sites that get the most votes on the program's website will receive up to $150,000 in funding.
If New Hope wins, founder and director David Wright said the money will be used for brick and masonry work, replacing and restoring the old historic windows and doors, and improving security.
Wright said the building was vacated in 2003, leaving it to be inhabited and abused by heavy drug users. His charity occupied the building in March.
"It was just horrific," he said. "There were encampments everywhere. Feces, needles, all that stuff. So it took us several months to clear it out."
The site was originally a meetinghouse of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and it was also used to film an episode of the "Touched by an Angel" TV series.
Wright, an entrepreneur, business consultant and activist, is the also the founder and director of Earth Community Gardens, which the New Hope center will be part of. He started the charity in 2007.
"Community gardening is mostly just looking at vacant lots and fixing them up. But building community also requires a community component — usually a building or structure where you can hold classes and events," Wright said. "So about four to five years ago, I saw the need to have a building."
Wright is currently working with Salt Lake City to finalize the purchase.
We want people to see beauty and opportunity in buildings in their community.
–Germonique Ulmer
A big part of the new community center, Wright said, will be a food pantry.
Earth Community Gardens' purpose is "poverty alleviation through food security," Wright said, and sometimes people have needs requiring more immediate help that can't be met through gardening. That's where he says the food pantry will be a great help.
Anyone can create an account at nationalgeographic.com/voteyourmainstreet and vote five times a day until Oct. 26.
"We, of course, are encouraging them to give all five votes to us," Wright laughed.
Partners in Preservation is a joint project by The National Trust for Historic Preservation and American Express since 2006.
The organization has given a total of $22 million to historical sites and buildings in need of restoration that "show the diversity of America" or "represent a struggle for equality."
Germonique Ulmer, public affairs vice president of the National Trust, added that each of the 20 candidate sites got a $20,000 grant to increase public awareness for their site during the voting campaign. She said the grant is to help drive votes, but also to raise general community awareness of every site.
"This program has been built with support from the local community," Ulmer said. "We want people to see beauty and opportunity in buildings in their community."
Richard Brown, American Express vice president of philanthropy, said the organization wants local communities to engage in the selection process, so it intentionally made the voting system similar to popular TV singing competitions.
"The voting process has helped draw attention to historic preservation in a way that has yielded more awareness for the needs of the participating historic sites," Brown said. "Ultimately, this has led to more donations, visitors and ongoing support for these amazing places among their communities." Email: sburt@deseretnews.com Twitter/Facebook: @SpencerABurt
