RANCHO CORDOVA, Calif. — Rancho Cordova unveiled a new youth center that will hold after-school and programs and mentorship opportunities for kids.
Local leaders and families attended a ribbon cutting and grand opening event Thursday evening at the facility located at 10455 Investment Circle in Rancho Cordova. Families toured the state-of-the-art facility, which includes basketball courts, a computer lab and an arts center.
The city is partnering with the Boys and Girls Club and Police Activities League to bring programming to kids. The league will also run a boxing program out of the center, complete with a new ring.
“I like how I can make new friends. It can be sometimes hard for me to make new friends, but boxing, it kind of like relieves my stress," said 13-year-old Azariyah Simmons, who recently joined the boxing program.
Simmons said she thinks the center will help other kids in the community too.
”They could probably just hand out here and make new friends," she said.
The center will provide year-round programming with the goal of giving kids a safe space and preventing crime.
“I believe we’re a very safe city in general but really it’s about focusing our attention and our resources to prevent crime and educate our students and you do that by making sure that they stay out of trouble," Rancho Cordova Mayor Donald Terry said.
The mayor said the city has been trying to get the center going for a couple decades. The Center of Praise Ministries in Sacramento donated the building, and the city invested $8 million to renovate the property and make this a reality.
“We know that by the time police officers have to chase people down the street, it’s very difficult to bring them back into the fold,” Lt. Richard Merideth, president of the Police Activities League, said. “Just like every city, we do suffer from some aspects of crime and sometimes violent crime and gangs and that’s really what we’re trying to avoid our kids getting involved in.”
The city also secured $350,000 in grant funding from the federal government for equipment and programming, which will begin by early December.
To learn more about the youth center and find out how your child can participate in programs, click HERE.
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