Belle Glade celebrates opening of Smith & Moore Family Teen Center

Posted 3/31/21

BELLE GLADE – The Belle Glade community celebrated the opening of a new Boys & Girls Clubs of Palm Beach County facility on March 31.

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Belle Glade celebrates opening of Smith & Moore Family Teen Center

Posted

BELLE GLADE – The Belle Glade community celebrated the opening of a new Boys & Girls Clubs of Palm Beach County facility on March 31.

The Smith & Moore Family Teen Center, 341 S.W. 12th Street, is promoted as “a world-class teen career readiness center that assures success is within reach of every young person who walks through our doors, with all members on track to graduate from high school with a plan for the future.”

The center includes:

• Makerspace with tools such as 3-D printers and GlowForge laser cutters that are associated with manufacturing and essential jobs skills for workforce readiness;

• Digital media and recording studio, featuring sound proofed walls, a green screen, and audio relay to the sound room for music and video production;

• Robotics lab where teens can not only learn to build drones but also to write codes that allow the drones to operate independently;

• Technology center where teens learn digital literacy and computer coding; and,

• Culinary kitchen featuring a fully-equipped instructional kitchen, commercial ovens, food preparation areas, etc, where teens learn about careers in food and hospitality.

“This project started as a conversation between directors and staff,” explained Jaene Miranda, president and CEO of Boys & Girls Clubs of Palm Beach County. She said they took a drive out to Belle Glade, and became determined to provide the same level of facilities in the Glades as they do on the coast. She thanked distinguished benefactors the Honorable Danielle H. Moore and the Honorable Lesley S. Smith for the lead gift to start the funding campaign. The project goal was $12 million so they would have the funds not only to build the facility, but also an endowment to make sure the doors stay open.

She said Boys & Girls Clubs can’t fix all of the problems children and teens face in the Glades, but they can guarantee the staff will show up every day and be there for them.

Jim Clark, president and CEO of Boys & Girls Clubs of America, said Boys & Girls Clubs have been changing the dynamics for youth for 160 years.

“Unfortunately today, some kids get more and some kids get less,” he said. Boys & Girls Clubs try to level the playing field. “Zip code doesn’t have to define their future,” he said.

Palm Beach County Commissioner Melissa McKinlay said the land that is now the site of the new facility was deeded to the school board in 1941. The school board later gave it to the county, and the county donated to Boys & Girls Clubs for the new facility. In addition to providing youth programs, the facility can be used as a shelter during hurricanes, and as a distribution point in emergencies.

“We wanted to make sure the kids in this community have the same level of facilities as the kids on the coast,” said McKinlay.

McKinlay said she was a Boys & Girls Club member as a child and she knows what a difference it can make
“As a child, it was great not to be home alone,” she said. “As a parent, going to work each day, knowing your children will be somewhere safe makes you a more productive employee.”

The facility was completed in 2020 and currently has about 200 teens enrolled as members. The official grand opening was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. An open house for the public is planned for Saturday.

Moore, of the Mary Alice Fortin Foundation, said the Glades has a reputation for producing remarkable kids. “Our family has been committed to the children of this community for 20 years,” she said. If we are truly committed to eradicating generational poverty, we need to focus on educating our youth.”

History
In September 1994, the Boys & Girls Clubs of Palm Beach County proposed an outreach and partnership program to all Glades’ area schools. By December, an agreement was reached for the Club to assume the operation of after school programs in three elementary schools in Belle Glade.

Over the years, the Glades’ area Boys & Girls Club grew to encompass six school-based sites and one stand-alone facility, serving more than 1,200 youth through programs and outreach. The original Teen Center, which served 200 members, was located at 350 SW 10th Street.

On April 18, 2018 a groundbreaking ceremony was held for the new state-of-the-art Smith & Moore Family Teen Center. Construction of the 13,000 square foot facility was completed in the spring of 2020 during the pandemic. On June 15, 2020 the Teen Center opened to Club members for summer camp with strict CDC COVID-19 guidelines. During the start of the 2020/21 school year, Smith & Moore Family Teen Center hosted Club members for distance learning during school hours and traditional Club activities after school hours. Because of the pandemic, the official opening celebration was delayed until March 31, 2021.

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