H*5255 Resolution, By Dillard
 A HOUSE RESOLUTION TO COMMEMORATE THE SIXTY-FIFTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE NEW
 WASHINGTON HEIGHTS AND HAPPY HEARTS COMMUNITY CENTER WHICH SERVED AS THE FIRST
 PARK FOR AFRICAN AMERICANS IN GREENVILLE COUNTY.

   05/15/14  House  Introduced and adopted (House Journal-page 12)

TO COMMEMORATE THE SIXTY-FIFTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE NEW WASHINGTON HEIGHTS AND HAPPY HEARTS COMMUNITY CENTER WHICH SERVED AS THE FIRST PARK FOR AFRICAN AMERICANS IN GREENVILLE COUNTY.

Whereas, the members of the South Carolina House of Representatives are pleased to learn that the New Washington Heights and Happy Hearts Community Center in Greenville County will celebrate their sixty-fifth anniversary at a joyous event to be held on Saturday, May 17, 2014; and

Whereas, from 1949 to 1951, houses were built in New Washington Heights, and the Neighborhood Association was started by Ms. Dorothy Brockman; and

Whereas, in those early years, games, tutoring, after-school care, and homemade go-cart races were organized at the Happy Hearts Community Center for the neighborhood children; and

Whereas, the original Happy Hearts Elementary and High School served the community until the school was renamed Washington High School, serving the New Washington Heights community from 1962 through 1970; and

Whereas, after the successful integration of the school district, Washington High School was closed and the facility became the Washington Center for Special Education and Services until it was relocated to a new campus near Greenville Technical College in 2005, at which time a teen club was started at the Center for the neighborhood youth; and

Whereas, in 2009, Justen Thompson, a resident of New Washington Heights, initiated an afterschool program called Just Kids; and

Whereas, in 2013, the Neighborhood Cleanup Martin Luther King Day was inaugurated, new street lighting was added, and trash cleanup has enhanced the neighborhood; and

Whereas, today the public schools serving the educational needs of the neighborhood's children include Berea High School, League Middle Academy, and Summit Drive Elementary; and

Whereas, in 1984, when the Happy Hearts Community Center celebrated its thirty-fifth anniversary, Reverend Jesse Jackson presented the keynote address to celebrate the occasion; and

Whereas, the members of the South Carolina House of Representatives appreciate the long and rich heritage of the New Washington Heights and Happy Hearts Community Center and join the residents and their friends as they celebrate sixty-five years of the neighborhood's presence in the community. Now, therefore,

Be it resolved by the House of Representatives:

That the members of the South Carolina House of Representatives, by this resolution, commemorate the sixty-fifth anniversary of the New Washington Heights and Happy Hearts Community Center which served as the first park for African Americans in Greenville County.