For Troy, Ohio native and executive director Shane Carter, the Lincoln Community Center has always been an extension of home, especially as he was born and raised about two blocks away.
He went to preschool at the Center. He swam and played basketball there. He trained for high school athletic games there. Later, he’d bring his younger brothers there to train and follow in his footsteps as a college athlete.
Upon returning home from the University of Wisconsin, Carter started volunteering at the Center where he spent so much of his childhood, creating a free summer youth football camp and then a youth basketball league. Six months later, the executive director position opened up — it wasn’t just the perfect job for Carter — it was a calling.
Carter is just one of thousands of individuals impacted by the Lincoln Community Center in its more than 150-year history. Originally a one-room schoolhouse for African Americans, the Lincoln School was created in 1865 and named in honor of President Abraham Lincoln, who signed the Emancipation Proclamation two years earlier.
The school and community center it evolved into were borne out of community need. While much has changed over the years in the community center’s offerings, its core values remain the same: mentoring, diversity, affordability, community collaboration, and being a safe haven.
Today, the Lincoln Community Center is Miami County's multicultural hub, offering recreation and programming for all ages. The Center “was always used by all walks of life and always shared with the community,” said Carter. “That is more so true than ever now.”
Plenty of data points to an educational slide that began during the disruptions of the COVID-19 pandemic – and we’re struggling to regain ground. The Lincoln Community Center’s nine-week summer youth program was designed to keep kids from sitting at home in the ‘summer slide’ and get them back on track academically.
The Duke Foundation, along with The Troy Foundation, fully funded this year’s program, or as Carter calls it, “summer camp on steroids.”
The summer program provides academic support, snacks, lunch, and educational field trips for youth in Troy and surrounding areas from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Students from first grade through high school participate in gardening, wood carving, arts, leisure activities, and “anything a kid would want to do,” he said.
Lincoln Community Center originally requested grant funding to cover 70 kids in this summer’s program. Interest in the program was significantly bigger than expected, with 110 kids on the waitlist. The Duke Foundation was proud to be able to extend the original grant amount to cover the entire waitlist.
“For the Duke Foundation to step up with this grant this summer to provide a need that we know is important is really encouraging,” Carter said. “It gives us a lot of momentum to believe in ourselves and to continue to provide programming in the community.”
The Duke Foundation has always been about catalyzing a better life for Miami County residents. As the family of Paul G. Duke carries on his spirit of giving through this foundation, Carter sees the Lincoln Community Center as a testament to Paul’s vision and legacy.
The Center is a lifeline for advancing health, wellness, and connection in Troy. It’s a safe space for people from all walks of life to gather, and it’s the bedrock of a strong, resilient community.
Carter is grateful to be a vessel of this legacy and to see the Center’s influence in the region in real time. Hear from Carter himself in the video below.
Today, that impact hits even closer to home – Carter’s own daughter attended the 2024 summer program and doubled her words read per minute in nine weeks.