Community Center Business Plan

Community engagement and research guiding a multicultural center in North Fort Collins

The Client: Fort Collins Urban Renewal Authority (URA)

The Challenge: Beginning in 2018, the Fort Collins Urban Renewal Authority (URA) was in position to fund improvements in its North Fort Collins plan area. To ensure that their decisions were informed by public need, the URA called on IBE and The Family Center/La Familia to gather input from this culturally and economically diverse community.

Our Approach: In 2018, IBE and La Familia heard a strong call to bring a Hispanic-friendly community center into the area. In response, the URA initiated negotiations to purchase the property of a former Albertsons grocery store and began due diligence to assess its feasibility to serve as the site for the proposed community center. In Fall 2024, IBE, La Familia, Mi Voz, and the URA re-engaged the community and potential partners to understand their needs and desires for such a center. IBE created and synthesized a bilingual (English/Spanish) online community questionnaire that Mi Voz distributed. IBE facilitated a partnering workshop with potential organizational collaborators to gather inspirations, aspirations, and concerns about the potential community center. IBE also conducted interviews with leaders of three existing community centers across the country to better understand the governance structures and funding mechanisms of similar projects. Driven by learnings from the community and IBE’s research, IBE led the team in creating a preliminary business plan for the future community center.

The Outcomes: The business plan has provided a flexible starting point for the design and operations of a multicultural community center. Given the deep engagement of the community during this very early project phase, the URA can have greater confidence that it is using its public funds to create a longstanding center that will meet the needs of residents, businesses, and visitors for years to come.