A community hub that has been in St Pauls for decades now needs to raise £20,000 to ensure its future survival. The Rastafari Culture Centre (RCC) on Grosvenor Road has been described as a "safe and healing space", but to remain in its current home it needs to buy it from the council.
In 2020 it launched a campaign after Bristol City Council moved to sell the building, and there were fears at the time they would be evicted. Ras Bandele Selassie and Morowa Selassie, who run RCC, were then told they could continue to use the building on Grosvenor Road - but they were restricted to the shop front on the ground floor, having previously been upstairs for over 25 years.
They say the council wanted to sell the whole building to a private buyer but eventually agreed to split the building, selling the first floor as a residential flat with RCC were allowed remain downstairs. However, they would have to buy the space off the council, and they still need help to be able to do this.
READ MORE: 'Invaluable' culture centre in St Pauls fighting closure from council sell-off
After lengthy discussions, they say an agreement was drawn up in 2021 between the council and RCC that the sale would be completed by July 2023. If the downstairs unit is not paid for by deadline set, RCC could face eviction again.
RCC has already raised the bulk of the money needed to buy the building and carry out essential repairs, but they have set up a crowdfunding campaign to gather the remaining £20,000. In addition a fundraising event will take place this Thursday (June 22) at St Pauls Learning Centre, from 3-8pm.
The council gifted the use of building to the family of Marlon Thomas following a brutal racist attack at a fairground on The Downs in 1993, which resulted in life-changing injuries for the 18-year-old. The family of Marlon Thomas subsequently set up their campaign for justice at the building on Grosvenor Road and invited RCC (who were previously based at Nicholas Road) to use the space upstairs, almost 30 years ago.
Ras, with the support of his wife Morowa, have been offering spiritual guidance, emotional support and cultural information ever since. While the centre is a place for people to learn and connect with the Rastafari religion and social movement, it also provides a safe space for people from all communities who are seeking knowledge, support and guidance.
'Safe space'
RCC has self-funded over the years by selling African clothing and accessories at community events and through small donations. This helps to fund their free drop-in service and pay the bills.
Ras said:" People from all walks of life come to the centre - university students, people struggling with poor mental health, to people who’ve just left prison. They all come here to calm down.
“It is the people's safe space. It is the only Black space in the community that is open to everyone. People just come and be, it is a healing place.
“They say, ‘Black Lives Matter’ but if Black lives matter then we need time to find ourselves, to re-wind, to re-educate ourselves and this is the place for it. I’ve been doing this since the 80s but the work still continues to be passed onto future generations.”
Morowa said: “We’ve been here for 29 years but the buyer hadn’t realised that we were using the building. We were using this building for so many years and we were just expected to pack up and go, we didn’t think that was fair.
“There were many people on board but Ras got left as the main person. By its use you realise that people appreciate and need it due to their circumstances, their mental and physical state.
“It’s a community provision and we’ve always been self-funded. It’s called ‘Rastafari Culture and Information Centre’ because that’s what’s provided but it doesn’t have to be just Rastafari users.
“Anyone can come through the door and that's what makes it quite unique. We urgently need to raise funds, so we’ve launched a crowdfunder, every pound will be greatly received.”
Bristol City Council has been approached for a comment about the sale of the building. You can donate to the fundraiser here.
