Project, Racine Street, 1970-1980
Person
The Racine Street Project begun in the late 1970s, by the Lake Region Conference (LRC) under the leadership of Dr. Charles D. Joseph, was located at the intersection of Racine and 76 Street in Chicago. The projects goals were to provide th low-income housing for senior citizen church members, a school for the Shiloh Seventhday Adventist Church, and a shopping plaza. The shopping plaza was to produce income to sustain the other two endeavors.
In the late 1970s, the LRC was in good financial standing. However, they still lacked funds to provide their constituents with important services such as suitable housing for the elderly and Adventist education for the youth. This led to the decision by the LRC Executive Committee to proceed with this project. The LRC leadership told the members of the Conference that this land would indeed be used for housing, a school, and shopping center. Further, they led the membership to believe this would be paid for by the government and not by the Conference. In 1977, the LRC Executive Committee voted to form a separate non-profit corporation called Full Life, Inc. (Full Life) to shield the LRC from liability while maintaining the same leadership in both organizations.
The Racine Street site consisted of four parcels of land that originally were to be developed into three housing buildings and the Shiloh Academy. The plan was later changed to be two housing buildings, the Shiloh Academy, and a commercial building. Loyola University was the owner of these four parcels of land. Talks began to acquire the land from them. After several failed attempts, Full Life entered into several partnerships with various groups to enable Full Life to acquire the funding needed to buy the properties. These partnerships caused a relatively simple project by the LRC to transform into a complex one with several other parties involved, some of whom were not connected to the Adventist church.
Due to the financial drain on the LRC brought on by this project, by the early 1980s the Conference was behind in to tithe and offering remittance to the Lake Union. This caused the Union to become concerned for the stability of the LRC. Additionally, early 1986, the Union became aware that the Shiloh Seventh-day Adventist Church had been recently mortgaged to raise funds without the consent of the LRC Executive Committee or the Shiloh Church members. In light of these and other information, the Lake Union and the North American Division of Seventh-day Adventists opened a formal investigation into the affairs and dealings of the LRC. In 1986 the North American Division requested special counsel to present a report of the North American Division Survey of the Lake Region Conference. After delays from the LRC, a meeting was finally held on February 8, 1987, at Kellogg Memorial Auditorium in Battle Creek, Michigan to share the investigation and report to the constituents of the LRC.
The report found that the leadership of the LRC failed tofollow church policy and committed fraud in the process of building this project. Elders Charles D. Joseph and R. C. Brown, Sr., were requested to resign.
The following years were spent fixing the financial and legal issues that were made during the Racine Street Project. There were also issues within the church itself that needed to be addressed from the new administration in the LRC and the Lake Union.
In the end, a shopping plaza was eventually built but apparently went bankrupt fairly soon; some apartments were built by one of the partners, but the leader of that project ended up in jail for fraud; and the Shiloh Academy was not built.
In the late 1970s, the LRC was in good financial standing. However, they still lacked funds to provide their constituents with important services such as suitable housing for the elderly and Adventist education for the youth. This led to the decision by the LRC Executive Committee to proceed with this project. The LRC leadership told the members of the Conference that this land would indeed be used for housing, a school, and shopping center. Further, they led the membership to believe this would be paid for by the government and not by the Conference. In 1977, the LRC Executive Committee voted to form a separate non-profit corporation called Full Life, Inc. (Full Life) to shield the LRC from liability while maintaining the same leadership in both organizations.
The Racine Street site consisted of four parcels of land that originally were to be developed into three housing buildings and the Shiloh Academy. The plan was later changed to be two housing buildings, the Shiloh Academy, and a commercial building. Loyola University was the owner of these four parcels of land. Talks began to acquire the land from them. After several failed attempts, Full Life entered into several partnerships with various groups to enable Full Life to acquire the funding needed to buy the properties. These partnerships caused a relatively simple project by the LRC to transform into a complex one with several other parties involved, some of whom were not connected to the Adventist church.
Due to the financial drain on the LRC brought on by this project, by the early 1980s the Conference was behind in to tithe and offering remittance to the Lake Union. This caused the Union to become concerned for the stability of the LRC. Additionally, early 1986, the Union became aware that the Shiloh Seventh-day Adventist Church had been recently mortgaged to raise funds without the consent of the LRC Executive Committee or the Shiloh Church members. In light of these and other information, the Lake Union and the North American Division of Seventh-day Adventists opened a formal investigation into the affairs and dealings of the LRC. In 1986 the North American Division requested special counsel to present a report of the North American Division Survey of the Lake Region Conference. After delays from the LRC, a meeting was finally held on February 8, 1987, at Kellogg Memorial Auditorium in Battle Creek, Michigan to share the investigation and report to the constituents of the LRC.
The report found that the leadership of the LRC failed tofollow church policy and committed fraud in the process of building this project. Elders Charles D. Joseph and R. C. Brown, Sr., were requested to resign.
The following years were spent fixing the financial and legal issues that were made during the Racine Street Project. There were also issues within the church itself that needed to be addressed from the new administration in the LRC and the Lake Union.
In the end, a shopping plaza was eventually built but apparently went bankrupt fairly soon; some apartments were built by one of the partners, but the leader of that project ended up in jail for fraud; and the Shiloh Academy was not built.
Found in 2 Collections and/or Records:
Racine Street Project Collection
Collection
Identifier: Collection 329
Dates:
1970-01-01 - 1980-01-01
Racine Street Project Collection
Accession
Identifier: Collection 329