By:Doug Miller
Project Challenge will open the doors of the East School from 7 to 11 p.m. five nights a week to Long Beach kids ages 12 to 16 for indoor and outdoor activities of their choosing. The program is expected to run from June 25 through the beginning of school in September.
The lights will be on for softball, basketball and other outdoor activities. Indoor activities will run the gamut from arts and crafts to cooking lessons to the X-Box consoles that have been donated to the program.
This teen center program is the brainchild of Roy Lester, Project Challenge Board of Directors member and Board of Education trustee, who explains that he grew weary of hearing teens in his neighborhood complain that they had nowhere to go at night but the streets.
Lester said that he tried to get something started through the school district or the city, but got nowhere. "Every government agency in the city said no," he said. "And the reason was money."
So Lester pitched the idea to Project Challenge last winter. "Everybody loved the idea, but we needed to make sure we had the funds and the staff," said Tracey Walls, Project Challenge's program coordinator. "In the last two weeks everything came together."
Lester estimates that the program will cost $15,000 to run for the summer, so he has become a one-man fund-raising machine, getting area businesses onboard with donated food, games, electronics, etc. The center will employ three people through Project Challenge, but volunteers - and cash - are needed.
Lester promised an "unstructured" environment that will offer activities and outlets that are of interest to teens and palatable to their parents. The center has lots of furniture donated by members of the community, and a DVD projector donated by the Long Beach Library. Eight computers will be available, but they will be loaded with spyware to keep track of where their users surf. A Webcam will be set up so parents can look in on their kids.
Lester and Walls have approached area professionals to ask them to donate their expertise to work with the teens. For instance, Leonard Remo, the owner of TKOPS 180 on Park Avenue, has volunteered to give cooking classes. Other businesses that have donated either equipment or money include Unsound, Murdy Electric and B&B Construction. People with other skills are encouraged to donate their time as well. (More information is available from Project Challenge at 897-0534.)
The program will be run out of the East School this summer, but the plan is to set up sister programs throughout the city in the future. "The West School people have contacted us because they want one," said Walls. "This whole concept of a teen center is something that has been missing in Long Beach for years. We're happy to be a part of it."
