
A youth center recently celebrated its official grand opening in downtown Pittsfield. It’s part of an effort to create positive activities in a city struggling to halt crime among its young people.North Street’s newest storefront isn’t a store at all. Stocked with air hockey, ping pong, pool, punching bags and more, The Hub offers Pittsfield’s young people a place to go for free fun after school.
“There’s the gym, the lounge with the TV,” explained center director Mike Williams. “They come in after school; we give them small snacks, fruit, juice. They come and basically this is like a second home to them. They feel really connected here.”
Run by both paid and volunteer staff including retired teachers, the center was up and running in less than two months with about $1,500 in expenses after selecting the two-floor space. The First United Methodist Church of Pittsfield is operating the graffiti-painted center as the non-profit Fenn Street Community Development Corporation. Williams says the center fills a critical time when kids get out of school and before parents get home from work.
“Pretty much all kids are vulnerable now,” Williams said. “It’s all about peer pressure and belonging to something. What we do is give them somewhere to come where it’s a safe atmosphere and they’re not dealing with as much peer pressure. If you give kids something to do they’ll be quicker to turn to that than to turn to bad stuff.”
Most of the gym equipment and furniture was donated by local organizations. Computers, to be used for homework, are next to arrive. So far the center is making a good impression on kids like Kristian Pridgen and Brandon Moore of Reid Middle School.
“I like to play pool and go downstairs to work out and watch TV,” said Pridgen.
“I usually just go home, but now this is wicked fun,” Moore said. “So I usually never go home after school now.”
It’s also attracting high schoolers, like junior Alexis Burke of Pittsfield High School.
“Usually we just go home and watch TV or play video games, but we might be coming back here because it’s pretty fun,” Burke said. “It’s a pretty cool place to hang out.”
Adam Hinds is Pittsfield’s Shannon Grant coordinator, a state-funded gang prevention and intervention initiative. The program increased its visibility via community meetings that drew hundreds following a shooting this past August involving a 15- and 17-year-old that sent the elder teenager to the hospital. In response, Hinds helped create the Pittsfield Community Connection with ideas like a youth center in mind.
“It shows that Pittsfield is increasingly rich in social capital,” Hinds said. “What I mean by that is you have the activities that adults are getting involved with for the lives of children and youth. You have this example. My program just launched a community mentoring and coaching program which targets the most vulnerable youth and their caregivers. So the more you have these social ties within a community it’s important for kids knowing that somebody in the community cares for them. The data shows that even having one person the child is less likely to jeopardize that relationship through any actions that are negative.”
The center’s director, Mike Williams, is also an outreach worker with Pittsfield Community Connection. Hinds says the city is increasing its efforts to create social ties among neighbors with the hope of creating more trust and responsibility to confront problems.
“Unfortunately there’s a continuation of youth involvement in criminal and violent acts,” Hinds said. “But the difference is that you increasingly see the community involvement for confronting those. So we’re happy that even throughout this past year we’ve seen a pretty consistent effort by the community to get involved. Obviously there will be some lag time before we see some major impacts, but we’re very pleased with the level of support that the community continues to show.”