Perry Mansion Cultural Center/American Outreach

There are people in Englewood who have lived here their entire lives.

For decades, they’ve seen everything change – the corner stores, the streetlights, the people. They’ve seen generations grow up as girls became women and boys became men. They’ve seen businesses open with hope and close with heartbreak. They’ve seen the neighborhood thrive, and they’ve seen it struggle to hold on.

The buildings they once knew, the ones that held families and stories and laughter, now sit empty. Some were knocked down. Some burned. Some are still standing, but barely–their windows boarded up like closed eyes that will never open again.

They watched as a grocery store shut down, a school lost funding, and a community center locked its doors for good. And just like that, the community they love began to slip away.

But in this community there is one place that refuses to disappear:

A place that is holding on, even while the world tries to forget it.

A place that still has life in it, even after everyone said it was beyond saving.

A place worth fighting for.

In Englewood, that place is the Perry Mansion.

For well over a century, this house has stood. It has survived fires, abandonment, and years when it felt like nothing in this neighborhood was safe from being erased. It has held this community’s history, its stories, its soul– not because it was supposed to, but because it refused to fall.

Now, it’s fighting to stand again.

The House That Refused to Fall

If these walls could talk, their voices wouldn’t be soft. They wouldn’t tell gentle stories.

They would speak of shadows and silence, of lives unraveling behind boarded-up windows, of people searching for escape but finding only more darkness.

They would tell you about the needles of some who were drug dependent scattered across the floor, the broken doors that never locked, the desperate whispers of people who had nowhere else to go.

They would tell you about the deals made in the hallways, the fires lit in the corners to stay warm, the way this house swallowed people whole and never gave them back.

For years, the Perry Mansion wasn’t a home. It wasn’t a landmark. It wasn’t a cultural center.

It was the worst drug den in Englewood: a place people avoided, a scar on the neighborhood.

Then, in 2005, one man saw something else. While the world had long since written it off as lost, he saw what it could be.

He saw potential where others saw decay.

He saw a future where others saw a ruin.

He saw a second chance – for the building, for the neighborhood, for the people it could one day serve.

So, he decided to fight for it: not because it was easy, not because there were guarantees. He decided to fight for it because this place deserved more, because Englewood deserved more.

He evicted the dealers and addicts who had taken over the space. And for the first time in years, the mansion stood empty. But that didn’t last.

The ones who had been removed came back. And they didn’t come to reclaim it; they came to destroy it.

A fire tore through the house, flames licking the walls, swallowing the staircase, blackening the ceilings. By morning, the mansion was unrecognizable.

Burned. Scarred. Destroyed.

But not gone.

Because when the fire died and the smoke cleared, it was still standing.

If these walls could survive that – if they could refuse to fall – then maybe, just maybe, this place was meant to be something more.

And so, the fight to rebuild began.

The Perry Mansion wasn’t just repaired. It wasn’t just restored. It was reborn.

It became something bigger, something stronger, something that would never be erased again – a transformative space that could bring people together – something this community desperately needed.

The Perry Mansion Cultural Center rose from the ashes – not just as a building, but as a beacon.

A place where Englewood’s past is honored, and its future is built.

A space where art, culture, and history live side by side.

A force that refuses to let this community be forgotten.

With renewed purpose as a stabilizing cultural force in the neighborhood, these walls speak louder now than ever before.

They speak of jazz spilling out onto the porch on summer nights.

They speak of poetry echoing through the halls.

They speak of dreams once whispered and now proclaimed.

They declare that after everything – the darkness, the destruction, the fire – this space found its voice again.

For years, it stood as a symbol of what’s possible – of what happens when a community refuses to let go of what belongs to them.

Then, just like that, it almost slipped away again.

When the pandemic hit, the Perry Mansion Cultural Center was forced to close its doors. The voices inside were stifled. The programs that once uplifted the community were put on hold. The space that had been fought for, rebuilt, and transformed sat still.

As the world slowly reopened, that same man found himself fighting two battles – bringing the cultural center back to life while battling the effects of Long COVID. Despite his illness, he has never stopped the work, knowing that Englewood could not afford to lose another space that was built for its people.

Today, the Perry Mansion Cultural Center is stronger than ever.

The programs are coming back. The music, the art, the voices – it’s all returning.

And this time, it’s not just about restoring what was. It’s about building something even greater.

But now, we need help.

We are not just fighting to keep the cultural center open.

We are fighting for the people who walk through its doors.

Total Wellness 360: Caring For The Community

During the height of the pandemic, as COVID-19 tore through our community, we watched it take our most vulnerable first.

The ones with diabetes.

The ones with high blood pressure.

The ones with heart disease.

We watched as hospital beds filled with faces we knew: neighbors, elders, loved ones.

We heard the ambulances scream down our streets, night after night, knowing that some of those sirens wouldn’t bring our people back home.

We saw families say goodbye over FaceTime, the last words of their loved ones coming through a screen because they weren’t allowed to hold their hands.

We saw caskets lowered into the ground, too many funerals happening back to back, until grief became routine.

And the worst part?

We knew this didn’t have to happen.

Because COVID-19 didn’t kill everyone the same way. It hit our communities harder. It took our people at a higher rate than anyone else. And we don’t have to wonder why.

We know why:

Because the virus didn’t just attack bodies – it attacked bodies that had already been weakened by decades of preventable disease.

For years, these illnesses had been quietly stealing lives – one stroke, one heart attack, one amputation at a time. COVID-19 just made it faster. It was the final blow for too many people who should still be here – not because they didn’t care about their health, not because they didn’t try, but because no one ever gave them the tools to fight back.

Because no one ever taught them how to cook food that heals instead of harms.

Because no one ever showed them how to exercise without pain.

Because no one ever told them that these diseases—these silent killers—could be prevented, managed, or reversed.

We are tired of losing people who should still be here. So the Perry Mansion Cultural Center is stepping up and fighting back.

Total Wellness 360 is our new, innovative, 360-degree health and wellness program that will give people the knowledge that has been kept from them for far too long – the knowledge that could save lives.

This program will:

Teach people how to shop for and prepare healthy, affordable meals that actually taste good. Show them how to exercise properly, without injury, so movement becomes a tool for strength – not a burden. Give them real strategies for preventing and managing chronic illnesses like diabetes and high blood pressure before they take another loved one too soon. Connect them with trusted doctors, nutritionists, herbalists, and fitness experts who actually care.

It will be free. It will be accessible. It will meet people where they are: online, in-person, and on their phones – because good health isn’t a privilege; it’s a right.

No one is going to give it to us, so we’ll provide it ourselves.

None of This Can Happen Without You

For generations, our community has survived by taking care of each other.

When systems failed us, we built our own.

When doors closed on us, we made our own spaces.

When the world forgot us, we refused to disappear.

The Perry Mansion Cultural Center has always survived because the people believed it should.

Now, more than ever, it needs that belief again.

Your donation will help:

Keep the Perry Mansion Cultural Center’s doors open, so it can continue to be a home for art, education, and healing. Launch Total Wellness 360, providing real, life-saving tools to those who need them most. Fund technology including a website and app, so this information can reach as many people as possible.

Since 1901, this house has stood through everything that was meant to tear it down; but survival isn’t enough.

It’s not enough to exist. It’s not enough to fight just to make it to tomorrow. We deserve more than just making it.

We deserve to thrive.

That is what this is about. It’s about more than saving a building. It’s about saving lives and building a future that is rooted in community: a future where Englewood has spaces that belong to its people; a future where health and knowledge aren’t gatekept, but freely given; a future where we take care of each other – because that’s what we’ve always done.

To make that future possible, we need your support.

The Perry Mansion Cultural Center is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization, which means every donation directly funds this mission—and is 100% tax-deductible.

Donate today. Share this. Be part of something that will outlive us all.