Commissioner Monestime to host groundbreaking of Father Gerard Jean-Juste Community Center at Oak Grove Park

MIAMI – Miami-Dade County Commissioner Jean Monestime will host the groundbreaking ceremony for the Father Gerard Jean-Juste Community Center at Oak Grove Park, 690 NE 159th St., on Friday, July 21 at 11 a.m.

The one-story 20,000 square-foot Center will include a covered passenger drop-off entrance, a reception and lobby area, and assorted multi-purpose rooms for staff, meetings, special events, games, fitness, cultural enrichment activities, and after-school and adult programs. There will also be an 82- by 44-foot aquatics pool with a deck and splash pad with lifeguard, first-aid, and pool ticket stations, plus men’s and women’s locker rooms, restrooms, and showers.

Commissioner Monestime sponsored the 2014 resolution to name the center in honor of Father Jean-Juste, the first Haitian ordained as a Catholic priest in the United States and founder of the Haitian Refugee Center in the 1970s.

“Father Jean-Juste was a respected and influential member of our community, and I look forward to seeing this center built to continue his legacy,” Commissioner Monestime said.