Allen Neighborhood Center

Allen Neighborhood Center serves as a dynamic hub where Lansing Eastside neighbors access resources to improve their health and well-being; expand their capacity to seize job and entrepreneurial opportunities; create a strong sense of place, belonging, and community pride; and build a safe, sustainable, and thriving neighborhood. Home to a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) "Veggie Box" program, which provides weekly and seasonal fresh, locally grown fruits and vegetables to the community. Partnering with dozens of local growers and farmers, the CSA also provides a subsidized program for low-income families with children for just $5 per week. ANC hosts a weekly farmer's Market every Wednesday with weekly and seasonal events, including its Accelerator Kitchen, which provides a space for local food entrepreneurs. The Markets core values are place, diversity, inclusiveness, balance, scale, justice, and community. The Hunter Park Garden House is a hub for year-round farm and garden education. Neighbors volunteer to grow food, flowers, and community. Youth develop job and life skills in service to the neighborhood through workshops and projects focusing on food access. Ingham County Health Centers will open a new 4,188-square-foot Federally Qualified Health Clinic that will serve low-income individuals and families. Ferris State University and Ingham Intermediate School District will work together to support a culinary school that will serve local high school juniors and seniors and early college students interested in the culinary business. The school will fill a void resulting from the closure of similar programs in the area. East Lansing Food Co-op (ELFCO) – 2,158-square-foot a small, 40-year-old food co-op, will sell a variety of food products, specializing in locally grown, raised, and produced food items, including those made on-site in the shared use (Incubator and Accelerator) kitchens.Michigan Community Capital and other mission-driven partners supported the redevelopment and expansion of the Allen Neighborhood Center (ANC) in 2020. The project, including the new development of Allen Place apartments, redeveloped an existing, two-story building into a three-story, mixed-use development. A small portion of the existing two-story building was occupied by ANC, a community-based non-profit providing a breadth of community services within the region. With support from Michigan Community Capital’s New Markets Tax Credit allocation and a participation bridge loan, the project now provides the community: • 21 wheelchair accessible, mixed-income rental housing units in an age-friendly environment designed to facilitate social interaction and social programming (allenplace.org) • Ingham Community Health Clinic – a Federally qualified health center - providing primary care services to low- and moderate-income individuals • Eastside Lansing Food Co-op specializing in locally grown/raised food products, increasing access to healthy food options for area residents • Incubator Program that provides aspiring culinary entrepreneurs access to a commercial kitchen and business development support • An Accelerator Kitchen that is catalyzing expanded business opportunities and growth for small-scale food entrepreneurs. • The initial makers in the Accelerator Kitchen include Teff-rific (Ethiopian cuisine,) Tantay (Peruvian cuisine,) Hobie’s, and Slows BarBQ. • In partnership with Lansing Board of Water and Light a micro-grid features multiple methods of solar collection and a solar courtyard. Additional amenities for residents include active programming from ANC, a community room, computer center, outdoor picnic areas and green spaces, an on-site year-round farmers market, nutrition education, and cooking classes.