By Harold C. Ford

The Flint Board of Education (FBOE) celebrated the opening of its first new building in decades – formally dubbed “The Cube @ Brownell-Holmes” – during its regular monthly meeting on September 17, 2025.  

FBOE members and other school officials assembled at the 5,000-square-foot Cube  along with some three dozen members of the Flint community and others. The Cube, according to an online post by Flint Community Schools (FCS), is intended to be a “community hub for after-school programming, enrichment, and neighborhood engagement.”  

The new building is situated between the recently renovated campuses of Brownell STEM Academy and Holmes STEM Middle School Academy on Oxley Drive on Flint’s northwest side. 

The Brownell and Holmes campuses were recently upgraded, in part, with Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funds totaling more than $26 million. ESSER funding was established by the federal government to provide support for state and local education agencies in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.  

Overall, FCS received more than $150 million in ESSER funding during the pandemic. District officials previously announced that it spent all of the ESSER funding that it received. 

Additionally, more than $14 million was provided by the Flint-based Charles Stewart Mott Foundation for the Brownell-Holmes campus improvements that included:

  • upgraded classrooms;
  • modern athletic and recreational facilities, including football, soccer, pickleball, basketball and a track;
  • new gymnasiums at both Brownell and Holmes; and
  • an early Childhood Center intended for children ages six weeks to five years.

However, the rollout of The Cube seems to have provided FCS officials an emphatic climax to the Brownell-Holmes project.  

“We are the first entity in the nation to have a Cube,” beamed Kevelin Jones, FCS superintendent. “In over 50 years, the district has not put up a new facility.”

“Today we turned it into reality,” Terae King, FBOE trustee, chimed in.  

“From just a piece of paper,” added Jeanette Edwards, president of the Brownell-Holmes Neighborhood Association. 

Pamela Pugh, State Board of Education president, was also in attendance and lauded the project.  

“This dynamic new community and student space … reflects your deep commitment to innovation and opportunity and investment in Flint’s north side,” she said.

Plaudits, launched in several directions, targeted numerous school officials and partners including the C. S. Mott Foundation, the Brownell-Holmes Neighborhood Association, the Flint-based Center for Educational Excellence, the Michigan-based Clark Construction Company, and Stantec, an international design and engineering company with offices in Michigan.  

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The Flint Board of Education is scheduled to meet on the following dates for the remainder of the 2025-2026 school year: Nov. 12, 19; Dec. 17; Jan 14, 21; Feb. 11, 18; Mar. 11, 18; Apr. 8, 15; May 13, 20; June 17. Most meetings begin at 6:30 p.m. The FCS website should be visited to determine location of the meeting, though most recently they have been taking place at The Cube. Live and/or recorded meetings can be accessed via YouTube.

Editor’s Note: This article originally appeared in East Village Magazine’s October 2025 issue.