On Wednesday, February 24, there was a recommendation at the Boulder City Council budget meeting to close Youth and Art Centers at ABC Park in order to ease the city’s budget. The council voted against the closing, however, after hearing from the families and teens who use the facilities.
Here is more of the article from Las Vegas Sun:
Last year, the council enacted an annual $20 fee for each Youth Center participant to help the center become more financially self-sufficient.
Youth Center Coordinator Debbie Barth, who has been working at the center since it opened in 1997, said the fee caused enrollment to drop by 35 percent.
When Barth heard about the possibility of losing the center, she said, she was devastated.
“I was really upset because I care about these kids,” Barth said. “I put my blood, sweat and tears into it.”
She said she recently received a letter from a Boulder City High School student and active participant at the center thanking the center for saving the lives of so many teens.
“She basically said, ‘I would be on drugs and alcohol if I didn’t have a place to go after school,’” Barth said.
Resident Sam Newman, 27, a former Youth Center participant, said the center helped him socialize with his peers in a sober environment.
At the budget meeting, Newman advised the council to keep the center open, saying its closure could lead to more vandalism, drug use and gang violence. He said it could also affect students’ academics and lead to an increase in high school dropouts.
