Western Kentucky University’s ALIVE Center for Community Partnerships will be moving to a new location on campus. 

The move is part of a merger between the ALIVE Center with the Institute for Citizenship and Social Responsibility, or ICSR. It comes with a cut of $151,000 and it was included in a larger cut totaling $6,039,200 spread out across the university for fiscal year 2017. As a result, the ALIVE Center will move to the ground floor of Tate Page Hall. 

“We are super excited to be in such a high traffic area as our programming will shift to a more student-focused mission,” said Leah Ashwill, the center’s director. 

Ashwill said there isn’t a specific date for the move, but “we are looking to move next week or the following week at the latest.” 

ICSR organizes programming to promote civic involvement among students. Meanwhile, the ALIVE Center connects students to community service opportunities. 

“It just made sense to combine two units with related missions,” Ashwill said of the consolidation. 

Several changes are also being made to the programming the center offers, Ashwill added. 

The United Way will continue some of the center’s information and referral services through its 211 service information line, she said. Additionally, the center will meet with community partners at South Campus on Nashville Road due to a decrease in available space in the Tate Page Hall location. A local Narcotics Anonymous group, which had been meeting at the center for 13 years, will now meet at the Bowling Green Fire Department. 

Ashwill said she wasn’t sure what will happen to the center’s current building off Nashville Road, but said it could be leased to an outside party. It currently costs $10,000 annually to maintain the building, which the university will be able to save once the center has relocated and the building is leased. 

Currently, employees are working on how to combine programming for both units.

“ICSR’s programming isn’t changing much,” Ashwill said. “We will still offer the minor along with the other programs that ICSR facilitated that is geared towards getting students engaged in civic action and social justice.” 

Programming the center coordinated is changing, however. The center will keep the $100 Solution program, which was a grant program to encourage community service and learning. However, the Hill House program is being picked up by the university’s Department of Social Work. 

The WKU Bonner Leaders program, which assisted students with college costs in exchange for community service, is shifting from being a nationally sponsored program. The new program will be called Scholars in Service and will “provide scholarships to students who may be wanting to participate in a service activity.”

— Follow reporter Aaron Mudd on Twitter @aaron_muddbgdn or visit bgdailynews.com.