The 36th Leadership Ponca City class made a donation to Attucks Community Alliance on Saturday, June 17 during the latter’s Juneteenth celebrations in the amount of $7,350.

Leadership Ponca City is a program with Ponca City that exists to develop a group of well-informed leaders in the community by having them participant in various civic, charitable and governmental activities. Classes typically meet once a month for different days themed around various aspects of the community including an education day, a history day, a government day, and so forth.

It was during the history day that the class learned about the Attucks Community Center located at 1001 South 12th Street, one of the oldest buildings in Ponca City.

The facility was completed in 1926 and was initially known as “Attucks Separate School”, prior to its completion, Ponca City’s Black students would take an hour long bus ride to Langston for school. The building would have add-ons in 1928, 1936 and 1937, with the first graduation in 1932. It was a fully incorporated, encapsulated school. The school was closed in 1966 when all grades became desegregated in Ponca City.

The Attucks Community Alliance was formed in July of 1998 and is a 501(C)3 nonprofit organization composed of a core group of 10 volunteers offering programs, events and oversight for the Attucks Community Center. This group provides direction and guidance in the ongoing restoration, operation, and maintenance of the Attucks Community Center.

“The whole class was drawn to Attucks and their needs. We toured Attucks kind of, sort of during history day. It was rainy that day and when we came to tour, we didn’t get off the bus,” said Jason Grace, one of the members of the 36th Leadership class. “[Norris Frederick] talked about the community center, and some of the issues in Ponca City with regards to race, and we were all drawn to this area. Here we are, a bunch of leaders in Ponca and we don’t even get off the bus.

At the end of a session, the Leadership class will have a moment of reflection called an “A-ha Moment”, it was during moment that the class lamented being unable to get off the bus to tour Attucks. This led them to select Attucks as the subject for their community project. Each class chooses an area of the community for their projects and these typically involve everything from assisting organizations in town, to erecting statues and so forth.

“My reaction was ‘wow, thank you very much’, which is pretty awesome,” said Diane Anderson, a member of the Attucks Community Alliance. “We’re just excited that they recognize that we provide a service to the community, not just the south side community, but the whole community. We have people all across the community that uses this facility, so we’re excited they decided to do something that will benefit a lot of people.”

The 36th Leadership class raised funds through a raffle for a firearm and a Cookshack smoker, the drawings for which were held at the gymnasium in the Attucks building on Saturday. Aside from the donation of $7,350, the group also presented a picnic table and bench on site.

“[It is] just a really good collaboration with my classmates, and making things happen down here in a part of Ponca City that, really, nobody knows about,” said Grace. “So if we can bring an awareness to a part of town that doesn’t get a lot of sunshine, that’s probably even more important than the $7300 that we brought here.”

The Attucks Community Alliance has been working to restore aspects of the building including roof repairs and to replace their air conditioning unit.

“[The donation] came at a great time, and we’re so grateful,” said Anderson. “I cannot tell you how grateful we are.”