The reimagined future of the First Baptist Church of Venice

Community Corp., Original Save Venice, and Hoopbus have created a collaboration as mission-

oriented, community advocates and partners that want to restore the First Baptist Church of Venice

for the Oakwood neighborhood of Venice.

Mission:

Our mission is to restore the dilapidated, vacant First Baptist Church of Venice into a community

beacon of light for the Oakwood community. We want to honor the church’s special history, be a

connection point for the Oakwood neighborhood, and bring life to the vacant property for the good

of the community.

Vision:

The restored First Baptist Church will celebrate the cultural, spiritual and community history of the

church, as well as bringing community together to connect in meaningful ways. The restored church

will have multipurpose space for a variety of community, spiritual, and cultural groups to spend

time together, as well as classrooms for educational opportunities.

Values:

Our shared values are:

- Honoring the First Baptist Church as a sacred, spiritual place

- Providing opportunity to learn about the history of the church and Oakwood

- Providing a place to experience joy in community

- Restoring the structure in a way that is historically and culturally sensitive, and with

modern, environmentally sustainable principles

- We value honesty, integrity, and collaboration. If we make a mistake, we own it and move

forward in a collaborative way.

How you can help:

The renovation of the Church for the cultural/community center will cost approximately $8 million.

We would like to invite you to be part of this generational opportunity to create positive change

that will last for many decades to come. There are opportunities to provide activities on the parking

lots while we await construction start that will bring community together, along with raising

awareness and funding for the church renovation. There are many volunteer opportunities. There

are naming opportunities for grants and philanthropic gifts. To learn more, please contact Tara

Barauskas, Executive Director at Community Corp, tbarauskas@communitycorp.org.