A summer program designed to connect youth in Massachusetts cities with sports, nature, the arts and more while school’s out is in full-swing.
The Summer Nights program run by the state Department of Conservation and Recreation dates to 2015 and officials say it’s grown to serve some 20,000 young people annually.
Celebrating 10 years of giving teens and young adults something to do in the evenings while school is out, the DCR and Governor Maura Healey marked the occasion with a western Massachusetts kickoff Wednesday.
Dozens of basketballs were handed out and kids got busy on the courts at the Boys & Girls Club of Greater Holyoke, following remarks from the governor and others.
“What's so great about a club like this is that it provides young people with opportunity - it gives them something to do, it gives them a way to engage in activities that give them a chance to believe in themselves, to push themselves, to try out new experiences, to realize new things about themselves,” Healey told a crowd of parents and children at the gymnasium.
Summer Nights is made up of numerous individual programs, operated by partner organizations across “approximately 125 locations” throughout the state, according to the DCR.
That includes 34 in western Massachusetts, with recent expansions in Chicopee, Easthampton, Holyoke and Westfield, says DCR Commissioner Brian Arrigo.
“What's incredible is bringing young people together in safe spaces, like the Boys & Girls Club, like some of our properties all throughout the Commonwealth, and providing them with an opportunity to learn from each other, to learn and develop leadership skills and provide great, fun activities,” the commissioner said. “The governor's favorite of course - basketball, but kayaking, swimming, volleyball, painting, tennis, you name it - we offer it during the Summer Nights program.”
This year’s program has $3 million in funding behind it from the state – including $2.6 million for program partners, according to mass.gov.
Youth ages 13-21 are encouraged to take part, with organizations like the Boys & Girls Club of Greater Holyoke hosting basketball and volleyball Tuesday and Wednesday evenings.
Other offerings in western Massachusetts include Fishing Friends Inc. in Westfield hosting fishing tours at the Hampton Ponds State Park on Monday nights or Martin Luther King Jr Family Services in Springfield offering anything from esports to dance classes to beauty workshops throughout the week.
Speaking with reporters, Healey says Summer Nights specializes in empowering youth at a time when school is out but kids continue to develop. It also lends itself to preventing violence as areas like Holyoke and Springfield grapple with an uptick in shootings.
“You can see - kids are playing basketball, they're doing face-painting, they're learning financial literacy, dance, theater … they're outdoors … learning gardening - there's a whole range of things that they're doing,” Healey said. “It's absolutely key to preventing violence. It's also really good for just general emotional and physical health and growth and development, but it's also - we know the studies, link activities and engagement with young people - giving them constructive things to do with reducing violence in communities.”
That sentiment was echoed by the executive director of Boys & Girls Club of Greater Holyoke, Eileen Cavanaugh.
“… opportunities [plus] resources equals activities - that is a formula that works for us at a Boys & Girls Club,” Cavanaugh said. “It is about finding resources and funding that supports the work that we do to create and enable young people to become productive, caring, considerate citizens of their communities.”
A full list of organizations taking part in Summer Nights and their offerings can be found here.
