Booker T. Washington Center

What Booker T. Washington Center does

Booker T. Washington Center (BTWC) is a Pennsylvania-chartered nonprofit community center founded in 1922/1923 and headquartered at 1720 Holland Street, Erie, PA, serving primarily Erie's African American community and broader low-income residents across the city and Erie County. The organization operates a multi-module service portfolio rather than a single product: youth education programs (Afterschool, Summer, GED via GECAC, Mentoring/Tutoring K-12 via Erie Public Schools' I-Ready tool, Jump Start Daycare, Literacy Lab), nutrition and health (WIC program, Food Giveaway, primary health partnerships), youth athletics (Blue Hawks basketball, flag football, baseball), senior services (Baby Boomers Program), prevention and recovery (Helping Hands Drop-In Center for opioid/substance use disorder), economic empowerment (Income Tax Assistance with 1,176 filings in 2019-2020, Job Training/Resume Writing), facility rentals (classrooms, gyms), and community engagement (Neighborhood Watch, National Night Out, Forums).

The underlying technology stack is conventional and non-proprietary: a WordPress website (btwcenter.org) with Zoho Forms powering all intake workflows (youth applications, adult applications, volunteer applications, golf tournament registration, sponsorship forms, facility requests, cancellation requests), PayPal for donations and payments, The Events Calendar plugin publishing iCal feeds for Google/Outlook subscription, and SquadLocker powering the Blue Hawks Gear e-commerce storefront. There are no APIs, SDKs, or AI/ML components.

BTWC's revenue model is a hybrid nonprofit mix of government and foundation grants (Appalachian Regional Commission, Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare, Erie County for WIC and community health), individual donations via PayPal and Erie Gives day campaigns, transactional facility rental fees ($150-$650 per event plus staffing and equipment), recurring fundraising events (6th Annual Golf Tournament generating foursome packages at $500 and Platinum sponsorships at $2,000), and in-kind support from academic and municipal partners. Programs are predominantly free or grant-subsidized; only facility rentals and the golf tournament carry published pricing. Go-to-market is community-led via in-person outreach, partnerships with Erie Public Schools, Gannon, Mercyhurst, and Erie Sports Park, facility rentals, and Zoho-powered web applications.

Name

Booker T. Washington Center

Legal name

Booker T. Washington Development and Education Center

Website

https://btwcenter.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1922

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Booker T. Washington Center is a Pennsylvania-chartered nonprofit community center in Erie, PA, operating since 1923 and serving local African American and low-income residents through youth education, WIC nutrition, youth athletics, facility rentals, and the newly launched Helping Hands recovery drop-in center.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Community Services

NAICS

Fitness and Recreational Sports Centers (713940), Sports and Recreation Instruction (61162), Fitness and Recreational Sports Centers (71394)

SIC

Services-Miscellaneous Amusement & Recreation (7990), Services-Educational Services (8200), Services-Membership Sports & Recreation Clubs (7997)

akta.pro primary industry

Parks, Recreation & Cultural Services (BPAIACAI)

akta.pro secondary industry

Arts, Sports & Recreation-Based Youth Development Nonprofits (BPAGADAJ)

Keywords

• Community center services
• Youth education programs
• Afterschool mentoring
• Substance abuse recovery
• Facility rental services

Headquarters

HQ city

Erie

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Facility Rentals: One-time/event-based rental fees for classrooms ($150), upper gym ($300), lower gym ($450), or combo gym ($650); non-refundable deposit plus balance due one week prior. Adds table/chair rentals and optional extra setup hours at $25/hour.
2. Annual Golf Tournament: Recurring fundraising event held annually (6th annual in 2026) generating revenue through individual golfer fees ($125), foursome packages ($500), partial groups ($250-$375), and tiered hole sponsorships ranging from $700 (Bronze) to $2,000 (Platinum).
3. Donations: Charitable contributions via PayPal donate button, Erie Gives day campaign, and direct monetary donations processed through the BTWC payment portal.
4. Government & Grant Funded Programs: Funding from public sources including the Appalachian Regional Commission grant, Department of Public Welfare contracts for job preparation, WIC nutrition program administration, and Erie County-funded community health services.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Core offering

Booker T. Washington Center operates a nonprofit community center delivering educational, youth development, athletic, health, and social services to Erie, PA residents. Standalone offerings include afterschool and summer programs, GED preparation, mentoring, WIC nutrition support, Blue Hawks youth athletics, Helping Hands recovery support for opioid/substance use disorder, senior Baby Boomers programming, prevention services, facility rentals, and an annual golf tournament fundraiser. Most programs are free or grant-subsidized; facility rentals and tournament entry fees are priced on a unit basis.

Product overview

Booker T. Washington Center (BTWC) operates a portfolio of community development, education, youth, and recovery programs — not a single unified software product. Its offering is a multi-module service platform comprising: core youth/education programs (Afterschool Program, GED Program, Mentoring Program, Summer Program, Erie Public School Program/I-Ready, Jump Start Daycare, Literacy Lab); health and nutrition (WIC Program, Food Giveaway Program); athletics (Impact Sports/Blue Hawks); senior and family services (Baby Boomers Program, Volunteer Program, Community Service Program); prevention and recovery (Prevention Program, Helping Hands Drop-In Center, Alcohol & Drug Prevention, Bully Prevention, Life Skills & Social Skills, Family Case Management); community engagement (Neighborhood Watch Meetings, National Night Out, Community Forums, Redevelopment Meetings); economic empowerment (Income Tax Assistance, Job Training & Resume Writing); facility rentals (Reservation Services for classes, gym, weddings, athletics, etc.); and recurring fundraising events (BTWC 6th Annual Golf Tournament). Online operations are powered by an embedded Zoho Forms stack, PayPal donations, SquadLocker team gear, and WordPress with The Events Calendar plugin publishing iCal feeds.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Blue Hawks: BTWC youth athletic program offering basketball (and flag football, baseball, lacrosse, soccer, volleyball partnerships) for inner-city youth.
• BTWC Helping Hands

Products and services

• Afterschool Program After-school program (Mon–Fri, application must be approved) providing a safe and engaging environment for children with educational enrichment, mentoring, tutoring/homework help, arts & crafts, recreation, and field trips. Designed for Erie, PA youth and families seeking free or low-cost supervised care.

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration5 records

Feature4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Others

• Mercyhurst University: Higher-education partner that operated a branch campus at BTWC for 10+ years; adjacent peer in delivering adult education/GED-adjacent programming in Erie, but in a different organizational category and not a service-line competitor.

Direct peers

• Urban Erie Community Development Corporation: An Erie-based community development nonprofit explicitly named as the third MCIC coalition partner, with overlapping urban-revitalization, youth, and family program missions in the same neighborhoods BTWC serves.
• Boys & Girls Club of Erie: A youth-focused nonprofit delivering after-school programming, sports leagues (directly overlapping Blue Hawks), and mentoring in the same Erie market — competing for youth participation, sponsorships, and youth-targeted grants.
• GECAC (Greater Erie Community Action Committee): BTWC's active partner in adult education/GED delivery; as a community action agency it runs overlapping workforce, nutrition, and community programs across the same Erie County footprint.
• YMCA of Greater Erie: A community-based nonprofit operating facility rentals, youth sports, after-school programming, and recreational memberships in the same Erie market — the closest direct functional peer to BTWC's mixed recreation/education model, with overlapping revenue mix (memberships, rentals, donations, grants).
• Second Harvest Food Bank of Northwest Pennsylvania: Regional food distribution nonprofit with directly overlapping food giveaway and nutrition programming (BTWC's Food Giveaway Program), serving similar Erie County low-income populations and competing for the same nutrition-focused grants.
• Martin Luther King Center (Erie): An Erie-based community center explicitly named as a Minority Community Investment Coalition partner of BTWC, delivering overlapping youth, education, and community programs to similar populations in the same neighborhoods.
• Catholic Charities of Erie: A multi-service nonprofit delivering social services, recovery support, food assistance, and family programming across the same Erie market — competing for similar grant pools, food-bank partnerships, and donor dollars.

Broad incumbents

• United Way of Erie County: The dominant regional funding intermediary in Erie — not a direct program competitor, but the principal conduit through which much of BTWC's donor and pass-through grant funding flows, making it a structurally important counterparty.

Regional players

• Erie County Department of Human Services: Public-sector operator of overlapping social services, workforce preparation, and community-health programs in the same Erie County territory — primarily a funder/contractor counterparty but also a parallel provider for similar populations.

Market position

Strengths1 record

Weaknesses1 record

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Instagraminstagram.com/btwcerie
• Xx.com/centerbooker
• Facebookfacebook.com/btwcerie
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/booker-t.-washington-center-inc.

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles14 records

Subsidiaries3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Booker T. Washington Center