Best Way to Keep the Conversation Going

Southwest Key

Since building an $8 million community center in East Austin two years ago, the folks at Southwest Key have been awfully busy – teaching GED and computer skills courses, offering cultural arts programs, housing the Boys and Girls Club, and serving up tacos out of its on-site restaurant, Cafe del Sol, among other things. (And just last month, they were awarded a $2.1 million federal grant, with which they'll be expanding the center – and the services offered there – even further.) But they haven't been too busy, luckily, to kick things up a notch this summer with their East Austin Summer Speaker Series, which handed the mic to such community leaders as PODER's Susana Almanza and former Mayor Gus Garcia. They discussed gentrification, education, the history of area activism, and other topics near and dear to Austin's fastest growing and historically most underserved segment of the city – issues that are by no means new, but by no means going away, either. We applaud their efforts to keep that conversation going within the community while also addressing some of the everyday, nuts-and-bolts issues that ultimately affect all of us.

Southwest Key Programs
6002 Jain, 512/462-2181
www.swkey.org