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Gary church launches effort to create jobs for community

Kaylin Cobb, 16, of Gary was filling out applications Saturday at a job fair for the new strip mall built by Beyond 4 Walls Christian Center in Gary

It’s the first time the teen, who will be a senior in high school this fall, has tried to get a job.

“I think it will be a great opportunity for the future and getting a real job after college,” Cobb said. She filled about applications for Lite House Whole Foods Grill and Blast Laundromat, two of the nine businesses that will locate in the two-building strip mall expected to open mid-July.

Creating jobs for residents and those of neighboring communities and bringing businesses that offer products and services that are difficult to find in the city are the main reasons the Rev. Maurice White Jr., looked to build the strip mall with the help of his wife, the Rev. Elisia White and his congregation.

Gary residents so often have to travel outside of their community for certain businesses and services, something many do not have the ability to do. For example, there is no laundromat in the Miller section of the city. White said his goal was to change that.

He lauded businesses like Amran’s Restaurant and the Subway sandwich shop which have long provided service to the Miller area, and said he was looking to bring in more such businesses that would do the same.

“They have sustained the community for 30-plus years,” White said.

For more than two years he went to the businesses he thought were needed in the community to try to lure them to the new development. He said he tried to ensure a variety to offer different products and services.

“It really gives the opportunity for growth for the city and the Miller community,” White said.

Along with Light House and Blast, the strip mall will be home to Steel City Bakery, Harold’s Chicken, Lil’ Coffee Cabin, Beggars Pizza, Don’t B Scared Braider, Barber & Beauty, Chicagoland Popcorn and Phenomenal 2.

“We wanted to raise the stand of what was coming in the community. This is the starting point,” White said.

The new development aims to create more than 85 new jobs. People from Lake Station, Merrillville and Portage, along with Gary residents, came out for the job fair.

Retiree Thomas Barber of Portage said he was hoping to find a part-time morning job to help pay for the rising cost of fuel. He said during the pandemic he got all the work done on his house he wanted, and now needs a job to help stay busy.

With the start of the South Shore Line double track project and development that project is expected to bring, the time was right.

White said people can complain and wait for the government to bring development to the community, but the onus is on those in the community to make it happen.

“If we want to make the community better and stronger, it’s our responsibility to see to it,” White said.

The development cost about $1.4 million and the congregation raised the funds to launch the project.

Rochelle and David Tandy of Hobart are members of Beyond 4 Walls.

“I think it is a great representation of what a church is supposed to do in the community,” David Tandy said.

“It’s a testimony to our name — what are we doing beyond our four walls,” Rochelle Tandy said.

Church members Stacey and Gerald Robison of Crown Point agreed. The couple is originally from Gary and said a church should be giving back to the community in a tangible way.

“It’s a good thing being part of a church that is giving back to the community,” Gerald Robinson said.

They said it was easy to get behind White and believe in the project because everything the pastor has said he has done.

“The whole congregation was excited,” Gerald Robinson said.

Mike Chhutani of Hobart owns Lite House. He said he too was caught up in the enthusiasm and vision of the Whites. He and his business partner were looking to expand to a new location in Northwest Indiana after opening their Hobart restaurant and when he heard White’s pitch, new it was the right location.

“We could meet a need,” Chhutani said.

Quentin Grant of South Holland, Illinois, will be opening a Beggars Pizza in the strip mall. He said he had just opened a location in the Glen Park neighborhood when White began courting him to come the site. White’s dedication to God, family and the community lead him to be the first business to sign on.

“I felt confident I was doing the right thing,” Grant said.

Carrie Napoleon is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.