The
Jane Boyd
Community
House

Achievement Academy

The Achievement Academy at Jane Boyd Community House is an out-of-school program for kids from high-risk communities.

Entrepreneur Edge

We aim to lift our entrepreneurial community through education, social capital growth, and mentorship! We focus on developing and supporting small business owners and entrepreneurs in Cedar Rapids and the surrounding areas.

100 Years of Success

For 100 years, the Jane Boyd Community House has housed mission-driven services focused on ensuring the success of children and families. Guided by founder Jane Boyd’s core mission of serving the academic, emotional, and social well-being of youth and families in our diverse community, the Jane Boyd Community House continues to host essential services focused on developing successful and productive adults.

We celebrated 100 years in 2021 and we invite you to learn more about the House’s history of service and how you can support Jane Boyd’s vision.

Jane Boyd 100th Anniversary Summary

Check out this special edition insert published in the Cedar Rapids Gazette.

$100,000 campaign for JBCH’s 100th Anniversary

The House celebrated 100 years of service in the Cedar Rapids community in 2021. To celebrate this momentous anniversary, Alliant Energy, a long-standing partner and supporter of Jane Boyd’s vision, led the way with a $25,000 donation.

Jane Boyd – An inspirational woman with a mission of compassion and service that can still be felt today

By Megan Isenberg

Jane Boyd was the epitome of a servant leader. She dedicated her life to serving vulnerable children and families in the Oakhill-Jackson neighborhood. During her lifetime, she impacted hundreds of families, and 100 years later, her legacy can still be felt in the heart of the neighborhood.

Jane Boyd’s story is one of compassion and perseverance. As a teacher at Tyler School, she tended to not only the academic needs of students, but also served their basic, social, and emotional needs. She listened carefully to children’s stories of not having enough to eat or of their parents being out of work.

These stories inspired her to take action and soon she took on the role of social worker in addition to her teaching duties. From ensuring that families had enough food to eat to making sure that children were properly clothed and receiving medical care, her impact in the community continued to grow. In 1921, Jane opened a community house specifically designed to serve children and families in Oakhill-Jackson.

She tirelessly dedicated her life to serving the most vulnerable, and did so relentlessly right up until her death in 1932. Hundreds of community members attended her memorial service, which spoke to the nature of love the community had for her and all that she had done to help those around her.

 

After her death, it was imperative for her mission and vision to live on through other servant leaders and community members who continued the operations of the Jane Boyd Community House. From 1932 to current day, the Jane Boyd Community House has offered many iterations of services to keep up with the changing times. Yet all of the services have been centered around Jane Boyd’s core mission of serving the academic, emotional, and social wellbeing of youth and families in our diverse community. 

2021 marks the 100th Anniversary of the opening of the Jane Boyd Community House, and as I reflect on the rich history of the past century and the mission-driven services of the Community House, I am humbled by Jane Boyd’s vision and her ability to bring people together to ensure the success of children and families.

Today, the Jane Boyd Community House continues to offer robust youth educational programs, job and career development classes for young adults, and entrepreneurial education courses for those inspired to drive their own economic success. We also operate two facilities that are a resource for community members and a place for them to play sports, host family celebrations, and a variety of other annual events that allow neighborhood residents to come together.

In uplifting Jane Boyd’s compassion and spirit of service, the Jane Boyd Community House and Harambee House will embark on a yearlong celebration of Jane Boyd, her lasting impact, and the legacy she created with the mission and vision of the Community House. I invite you to join us in this celebration by visiting janeboyd.org to learn more about Jane Boyd’s legacy and how you can support the work we are doing today to carry out her vision.

Video Interviews

100 Years of Jane Boyd: Karl Cassell

Hear from former Executive Director Karl Cassell about his time as Executive Director of Jane Boyd Community House and what it means to him for Jane Boyd to celebrate its 100th anniversary this year.

100 Years of Jane Boyd: Dorice Ramsey

Hear from former Executive Director of Jane Boyd Community House Dorice Ramsey about her time as Executive Director and what it means to her for Jane Boyd to be celebrating its 100th anniversary this year.

100 Years of Jane Boyd: Achievement Academy

As we celebrate 100 years of service this year, hear from some of our Achievement Academy parents about what Jane Boyd means to them.

100 Years of Jane Boyd: Faith Robinson

Hear from Empower Admin & Marketing Specialist Faith Robinson about how Jane Boyd has impacted her and her family over the years.

Faith attended Jane Boyd as a child and later in life sent her own children to Jane Boyd.

IMpact STORIES

Honoring Suzy Beshears

“Suzy embodied the Jane Boyd spirit and mission through her years of service.”

Read more about Suzy Beshears and the impact she had at Jane Boyd during her 30 years of service here:

With a heavy heart, I write these words in honor of Ms. Suzy Beshears as she is laid to rest. For over 30 years, Suzy was the soul of Jane Boyd Community House. She tirelessly served youth and families through after school programming and the various youth sports leagues. If you’ve heard about Jane Boyd Community House, you’ve heard about the robust youth sports programs that once filled the basketball court and the diamonds at Ven Vechten. Suzy single handedly ensured youth had access to sports leagues. 

She was a dynamic community organizer with the ability to bring parents, volunteers, and youth together. She believed in everyone’s ability to be great, and could transfer her confidence to them leading to great success. Jorel Robinson remembers this fondly when Suzy asked him to coach some leagues. To her request, he recalled “But Suzy, I’m only 16, I don’t know about this.” And she responded in true Suzy fashion, “Jorel, Stop it! What’s there to know? Here’s the schedule for your team, and I’ll stop by practice to check on you.”  There are countless stories among community members that have the same sentiment – Suzy believes I can do it, so I must be able to.

Through her efforts, she provided access to sports and recreational programming for hundreds of children through out the community. Her impact on the community is immeasurable. As the news of her passing spread through the community, heart warming tributes to Suzy started to fill social media threads and the comment section on her obituary. As I read the tributes to her, it was clear, Suzy impacted hundreds, if not thousands, of kids and families in Cedar Rapids. One particular tribute from Lori Ampey stood out. “Suzy was one of the greatest mentors to impact my life. She was the reason I wanted to have a career in youth development. What I learned from her I still use in my job today. Not only will Suzy be missed, but her legacy will live on in all of those she has mentored and those who continue to follow her footsteps.” The stories and tributes are endless, and all center on her giving and compassionate spirit.

Suzy embodied the Jane Boyd spirit and mission through her years of service. She will be greatly missed by so many. To honor her legacy, Jane Boyd will plant a tree on our property so her spirit can live on for years to come.

– Megan Isenberg, Director of Jane Boyd

Mark & Alexia: A Jane Boyd Love Story

Jane Boyd will always hold a special place in Mark Taylor’s heart. It is where he spent a lot of time in his youth and teenage years, was a place of employment for him for three years, and most significantly was where he met his wife, Alexia.

Jane Boyd will always hold a special place in Mark Taylor’s heart. It is where he spent a lot of time in his youth and teenage years, was a place of employment for him for three years, and most significantly was where he met his wife.

As a young boy, Mark participated in Jane Boyd’s Head Start program and other summer programming.

“Jane Boyd gave me a safe place to be when my parents were at work,” Mark said.

He remembers the day very clearly, when he first met his wife Alexia. Both of them were attending Jane Boyd’s summer camp.

“The first time I met my wife, she came to Jane Boyd’s summer camp wearing a cow boy hat and I thought that was so cool,” Mark said. “We hung out a lot during camp but didn’t talk during the school year. I knew from the first time I met her that I liked her.”

Mark and Alexia eventually started dating and later married. They went on to have three children, Amara, Ayla, and Ward, who also attended Jane Boyd.

Mark said that his time at Jane Boyd had a big impact on his life.

“I had a safe place to go as a youth with elderly people who genuinely cared about me,” Mark said. “I had the chance to listen to their life experiences and that helped me to change my viewpoint on the world. It also helped me to decide on what I wanted to do in my life.”

Mark now works as an Engagement Specialist at Johnson STEAM Academy and is still happily married to his wife of 24 years.

“I went to Jane Boyd as a kid and met the most amazing lady who I now call my wife and the mother of my children,” Mark said. “Jane Boyd is a great community program.”