There is a lack of much needed youth programming in the East End of Lexington, KY that leaves too many of our children and youth with a vacuum of appropriately structured and properly supervised activities. William Wells Brown Community Center (WWB) has attempted to fill in the gap left by the Bluegrass-Aspendale Teen Center and the P.A.L. Center that was never returned to this community as proposed with the HOPE VI development. However, there is a limit to how much one center can do with limited resources to serve the entire population of this community. Jill Wilson does an excellent job of serving all ages, elementary to high school (M-W-F) and adults (Tue. & Th); though closed during the months of May and August and serving all age groups during the limited operational hours (6-9 PM) during the school year. Oftentimes, that leaves many youth unsupervised with extremely limited options.

Over 1,000 residents of this community fought for the return of the Charles Young Community Center (CYCC) to supplement WWB and provide additional youth programming (after school,evenings, weekends, school holidays, Spring & Summer breaks) that has yet to be fully realized after nearly 2 years of operation. Too often CYCC is sitting dark and empty, and accessing the facility for program use has been difficult and basically limited to government run or funded corporations, and as a result it is not effectively meeting the needs of the community. Utilizing a model of volunteer management and oversight has not proven successful; no grants or on-going funding have been provided and few programs have been developed as proposed, except by other volunteer groups that have experienced difficulty interacting with the current board and management that have had little regard for community needs and requests.

PLEASE CONSIDER THE RESTRUCTURING OF THE CHARLES YOUNG COMMUNITY CENTER WITH A QUALIFIED, PAID PROGRAM DIRECTOR AND STAFF THAT CAN EFFECTIVELY MANAGE THIS CENTER WITH COORDINATED PROGRAMS, ACTIVITIES, AND EVENTS. PLEASE HELP KEEP OUR YOUTH OFF THE STREETS AND INTO PRODUCTIVE PROGRAMS AND POSITIVE ACTIVITIES, AS WELL AS COMMUNITY-BUILDING EVENTS THAT ARE MUCH NEEDED AND DESIRED IN OUR COMMUNITY.