There is good news about the Collaborative for Community Trust in today’s paper. I’m glad to learn that the Simkins house will be saved and, perhaps, put to good community use. But how did this situation get so bad in the first place?

Cleve Sellars, who is on the board, wouldn’t comment on Catherine Fleming Bruce – who has badly mismanaged the Collaborative. Question is, where in the world has he and the rest of the board BEEN all this time? Seems to me that Bruce is not the only one to blame for running the Collaborative into a ditch.

Warren Bolton, who is on the editorial staff at The State, has been a longtime Collaborative board member. Sadly, he with the bully pulpit wasted an opportunity to shed light on the matter before it got to this point.

If you missed it, here’s a link to the story.

And if you haven’t seen the Simkins house, you can take a nifty virtual tour here.

Here is a letter from Ms. Bruce that ran in last week’s Free Times after the paper ran an editorial skewering her.

Simkins Restoration Requires Public-Private Partnership

I write today to personally acknowledge the support and encouragement shown by individuals, organizations, municipalities and corporations over the years to the Collaborative for Community Trust in its efforts with regard to the Modjeska Simkins House (City Watch, “Modjeska Simkins Deserves Better,” July 18). This has been a long and arduous journey for myself and for the Collaborative board, with our only concern being the preservation of a historically significant civil rights building that once bore an “uninhabitable” notice and whose legacy was on the brink of being lost forever. It is this passion that has kept the Simkins project afloat since 1995.

It is our wish and our agenda that our community have the civil rights centerpiece that we have worked all these years to bring to fruition. We took action so that Columbia might join the ranks of other Southern cities in embracing our role in the American civil rights movement through this facility.

The purchase, restoration and operation of a historic site is a gargantuan task, and even more so with a paucity of staff support and resources. Many would never have attempted it, as historic preservation is most often taken up these days by developers or well-financed institutions. But had the Collaborative not stepped up 12 years ago, the Simkins House would not be here today.

Even so, the restoration of the Simkins House could never have been accomplished by the energies of any private individual or private group alone. The nature of historic preservation mandates a public-private partnership. It cannot, nor was it ever intended to glorify, enrich or exalt any one person. When I got involved, I considered this preservation work to be a public service to the community. I had guidance from our board, help in submitting appropriate reports from our accountant and the encouragement of many friends. I hope that other ordinary people will continue to step out on faith to preserve history in their communities. The Collaborative board and myself took the risk, and while it required extreme personal sacrifice and challenge, I am grateful for their commitment.

I, along with the full board of the Collaborative for Community Trust, continue to pledge our full efforts to a successful Modjeska Simkins House as it benefits from ever broadening levels of support and partnerships.

Catherine Fleming Bruce
President, Collaborative
for Community Trust