Indianapolis, IN
After years of disuse, St. Peter Claver Center to reopen with food bank, after-school care
Nearly 50 years after it was dedicated as the St. Peter Claver Center, the once-thriving Near Northside building is getting a new lease on life.
Community members, including Trinity Church pastor Kim McCrackin and Marion County Recorder Faith Kimbrough, gathered outside the storied event space at 3110 Sutherland Ave. on a gray afternoon Sept. 13 to publicly commemorate the church’s plans to remodel and reopen the community center as the Trinity Youth and Family Services Center.
From beneath the drumbeat of heavy rain on umbrellas, McCrackin reminisced about the place where she would come to sing, dance and be among friends as a teenager.
“When you came here, baby, you dressed up,” she said.
The St. Peter Claver Center began in 1978 as a meeting space for the Knights and Ladies of St. Peter Claver, the nation’s oldest predominantly Black fraternal organization. For nearly 20 years, the space hosted meetings, dances, fashion shows, banquets, even speaking engagements from the likes Maya Angelou. But after the roughly 25,000-square-foot venue changed hands a few times in the 1990s, including its most recent stint as the Omega Events Center from 1998 to the early 2000s, the building fell into disrepair.
McCrackin, an Indy native who has been a pastor for about 25 years, said she spent nearly three months in 2014 tracking down the Omega Center’s owners in the hopes of purchasing it.
She then established the Indianapolis branch of the predominantly Black, Florida-based Trinity Youth and Family Services, holding church services out of a small auxiliary building on the center’s property while steadily making repairs to the main structure.
There remains much work to be done. McCrackin said Trinity had to essentially gut the building after buying it. Graffiti pocks the exterior brick walls and there is substantial damage to the roof. A sign out front reading “St. Peter Claver Center” has been nearly bent in half. The pastor estimates that in order to completely renovate the building, Trinity will need to raise around $1.5 million.
The ambitious project already has buy-in from Trinity congregant and lifelong Indy resident Brigitte Winters, who remembers coming to the St. Peter Claver Center in her 20s with her friends for dances where beloved local DJ Thomas “Sparkle Soxx” Griffin would spin records deep into the night.
“It was so fly back in the day,” Winters said.
Longtime Indy resident Bessie Manning would frequent the center with other kids from her church, often waiting in a line of cars to get dropped off. She and her husband, George, mourned the loss of a community staple when the backgammon nights and fashion shows stopped, leading to years of neglect.
“I hate that it went downhill,” Bessie said. “If they can get it fixed up, it’ll be real nice.”
With the money Trinity hopes to receive from community donations and grants, McCrackin plans to revive the center with various functions including a food pantry, after-school programs, a playground, a fellowship area and an event space to be rented for different community celebrations, weddings and funerals. If possible, she intends to rent buses to transport food to lower-income residents who can’t come to the Trinity Center.
“We’re gonna go to them,” McCrackin said. “Somebody’s got to treat somebody right at some point.”
After the afternoon ceremony, during which Kimbrough presented McCrackin with the physical deed to the Sutherland Avenue property, the driving rain dried to a slow drip and the 20-some people present began forming a line to fill plates and clamshell boxes with chicken, ribs, goat, macaroni and cheese, salad and green beans.
Among the group was McCrackin’s mother, Doris, an Indy resident of 70 years who used to attend the Claver Center for dances, fashion shows and bingo nights. Doris hopes that under her daughter’s guidance, the community staple that once served them both can do the same for a new generation.
“There’s just so much going on, we just need to get people on the right track,” she said. “If you show them love, maybe you can bring them in.”
Contact dining reporter Bradley Hohulin at bhohulin@indystar.com. You can follow him on Twitter/X @BradleyHohulin and stay up to date with Indy dining news by signing up for the Indylicious newsletter.
Indianapolis, IN
NFL Trade Rumor: Indianapolis Colts and Tampa Bay Buccaneers emerge as top landing spots for $4M Cleveland Browns’ QB
The Cleveland Browns’ rookie quarterback Shedeur Sanders has found his name regularly among trade speculations as the team reportedly received calls from rivals about him. Though the Cleveland Browns are seemingly not looking to trade him soon, the Indianapolis Colts and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have emerged as potential landing spots.
Which teams are interested in Shedeur Sanders?
Over the last three weeks, as ESPN insiders confirmed that the Cleveland Browns have been speaking to team about Shedeur Sanders, the New York Jets, the Indianapolis Colts and the Tampa Bay Buccanners have been linked to him.
What are insiders saying about the rumors?
Recently, NFL insider Michael Moraitis of the Big Lead noted in a recent report, “The Cardinals figured to go into the 2026 season with Jacoby Brissett as their starter, but the veteran is holding out and now his future is uncertain. General manager Monti Ossenfort is on the hot seat and cannot afford to turn the ball over to Gardner Minshew, and there’s no telling when Carson Beck will be ready. Sanders is no sure thing, but he at least offers the upside Minshew doesn’t, and the starting experience Beck doesn’t have.” NFL insider Michael Moraitis of the Big Lead added, “The Bucs and Baker Mayfield are in a contract standoff, and while the veteran is not going to hold out, he will be a free agent in 2027 if nothing changes. If Mayfield isn’t re-signed, the Bucs would be in the market for a new starting quarterback without any semblance of a potential long-term solution on the roster behind Mayfield.”
Contract details and salary cap implications
The rookie quarterback Shedeur Sanders is currently on a 4-year, $4.647 million rookie contract with the team.For the team that trades for him, Shedeur Sanders would have a $1.005 million base salary in 2026.As per reports, trading Shedeur Sanders would instantly clear $781,310 in immediate 2026 cap space for the Cleveland Browns as the team takes a $335,535 dead cap hit from his accelerated signing bonus.
How will the trade affect the teams?
For the Indianapolis Colts, trading for Shedeur Sanders remains very affordable as he could be a $1.005 million insurance policy to push or backup Anthony Richardson.For the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, trading for Shedeur Sanders makes him a low cost backup quarterback ready to become the starter if Baker Mayfield leaves.
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — The Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department says a shooting investigation was underway after a 16-year-old boy was found shot on Indy’s north side Wednesday morning.
Online police reports show the call for a person shot came in in the 900 block of East 64th Street around 7:23 a.m. That’s in the Meridian-Kessler area, just west of the Monon Trail.
When officers arrived, they found the teen suffering a gunshot wound.
IMPD says he was taken to a hospital in stable condition. Officials also noted the teen has been “uncooperative” with investigators at the scene.
It was unclear if there were any suspects or what may have led up to the shooting.
This is a developing story.
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Residents of Indianapolis’s near north side have a chance to help shape the future of their neighborhood.
Crossroads AME Church is hosting two community listening sessions to gather input on revitalizing the 32nd Street and Capitol Avenue corridor in the Crown Hill neighborhood.
The first session is 6 to 8 p.m. Tuesday at Community Action of Greater Indianapolis, 3266 N. Meridian St. A second session is scheduled from 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday, July 30, at the same location.
“We as a congregation do not want to undertake that initiative without getting input from the community,” said Reverend Jerry E. Davis III of Crossroads AME Church.
The corridor, located two blocks west of the Children’s Museum, has long been identified as an area in need of resources. Davis said the church’s research and conversations with community leaders have already surfaced concerns about access to food and pharmacy services. The area has been described by some as both a food desert and a pharmacy desert — a situation that worsened when a CVS near 38th Street and Illinois Street was replaced by a car wash.
“There is one less resource where perhaps within walking distance we can get the pharmaceutical needs that we have satisfied,” Davis said.
The July 14 session is designed as an open forum, with no limits placed on what residents can raise. Davis said the church wants to hear ideas that go beyond what research has already uncovered.
“We want to hear even beyond the numbers,” he said.
The July 30 session will give attendees a chance to return and prioritize the ideas and needs shared at the first gathering. Davis called the two sessions a “both and” opportunity, encouraging residents to attend both.
Both sessions offer in-person and virtual participation options. A free dinner will be provided at both in-person gatherings.
For more information, contact Crossroads AME Church.
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