- Community Action Lehigh Valley will hold a community meeting to discuss its youth center project
- The local nonprofit plans to turn the former Cleveland School on North Ninth Street in Allentown into a $20 million youth center
- The purpose of the meeting is to make sure the community still is on board with the idea, the organization's Executive Director Dawn Godshall said
ALLENTOWN, Pa. — Allentown soon may get a new youth center, and residents will have the opportunity to give feedback on the project this week.
Local nonprofit Community Action Lehigh Valley will hold a community meeting to discuss turning Allentown School District's former Cleveland School on North Ninth Street in Allentown into a $20 million youth center.
The meeting will take place 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Thursday at Allentown Library, 1210 Hamilton St.
Community Action Lehigh Valley Executive Director Dawn Godshall said the purpose of the meeting is to make sure the community still is on board with the idea.
“We had a community meeting about three years ago, and out of all of the things that were that the community said they wanted, the youth center was the one that stood out the most,” Godshall said.
Since then, the nonprofit has worked to find a space for the youth center. Allentown School Board in June approved selling the district’s former Cleveland School to the nonprofit for $320,000.
“Most kids get in trouble between the hours of 3 p.m. and 6 p.m., more than any other time. And that's usually because they're waiting for their parents to get home from their own jobs.”Dawn Godshall, Executive Director of Community Action Lehigh Valley
Godshall said the youth center could help address high levels of gang violence and gun violence in the city.
“Most kids get in trouble between the hours of 3 p.m. and 6 p.m., more than any other time,” Godshall said. “And that's usually because they're waiting for their parents to get home from their own jobs.”
“So we want to provide a positive place for them to foster positive youth development and address some of the pressing challenges that the youth in our community face."
Godshall estimates the project will take three to five years. The design has not been finalized, so attendees at the community meeting will be able to make suggestions about what it should look like.
‘A place for them to learn and grow’
Godshall said the project is personal to her as someone who grew up in foster homes. She attended a local youth center after school and she said it was a “wonderful experience.”
“It really changed the trajectory of my life, and I'm grateful,” Godshall said.
"This will be an added bonus to the school district for a safe place for kids to be in a place for them to learn and grow and find exciting programs that they can be a part of.”Community Action Lehigh Valley Executive Director Dawn Godshall
Many programs already exist through the Neighborhood Partnership Program, but currently have to rent spaces or hold them in schools.
She said that, because of a lack of funding, Allentown School District does not have many after-school programs.
“In the past, they had to cut a lot of their after-school programming for kids,” Godshall said.
“And so this will be an added bonus to the school district for a safe place for kids to be in a place for them to learn and grow and find exciting programs that they can be a part of.”
Godshall said the organization is looking for an architect to design the youth center. She plans to make the building project its own nonprofit and start a capital campaign to fund it.
