Boys & Girls Clubs of Kentuckiana (BGCK) and the Community Foundation of Louisville in partnership with The Wheelhouse Project, have come together to announce a collaboration that is headed to the Smoketown neighborhood. The announcement was made at the annual KFTC “Smoketown GetDown for Democracy” block party by officials with BGCK, The Wheelhouse Project, the Community Foundation of Louisville, and Smoketown neighborhood leaders.

The Wheelhouse Project is a community development partnership with the Smoketown neighborhood. Central to The Wheelhouse Project’s success is the utilization of a strategic property generously donated by Hillerich & Bradsby Co. to the Community Foundation of Louisville.

“This announcement is the culmination of two years of work with Smoketown residents to envision what type of innovative partnerships can best serve their neighborhood in the future,” said The Wheelhouse Project’s Founder Heather Farrer. “More than 1,500 suggestions came from people living in Smoketown who took part in fifteen events that served up nearly two-thousand idea-generating scoops of Comfy Cow ice cream.”

Once community ideas were analyzed and shared back with the Smoketown community, several central themes evolved. Residents want a safe space for children to play, a place that will foster economic opportunity, community green space, and a place for programming that will benefit family learning.