The Betsie Valley Community Center (BVCC) was created to serve the communities of Northern Manistee and Southern Benzie counties. Our mission is to deliver “educational and charitable services” – a broad tent for a number of projects and strategies chosen to improve the quality of life in this region. The spark for the BVCC came in 2015 with a playgroup plus parent support group, made possible by the Great Start Collaborative of Traverse Bay. These were held at the Betsie Valley Elementary School where a number of parents gathered every month to identify the services they were most in need of. The list was long. The monthly discussion group grew to include county commissioners, township and village officials, service agency and business reps, interested community residents and MORE parents! The decision to incorporate as a non-profit was made and status granted in 2018. We currently have a 7 member Board of Directors and these committees – Finance, Vital Services and Recreation.
April 2019 – After a year of meetings, complications and advocacy, finally fiber optic cable was installed to connect BV Elementary School to broadband. Previously the school was one of only two – out of 72 buildings in the Traverse Bay Intermediate School District without broadband. The Benzie Central Schools Superintendent, reflecting on this year of the pandemic, commented recently that the school could not have stayed open without the broadband connection.