Boys & Girls Clubs' new teen center opens in Ferguson
FERGUSON, Mo. (KMOX) — Five years in the making, the $12.4M Boys and Girls Clubs Teen Center was unveiled at 9200 West Florissant Avenue in Ferguson this week.
KMOX's Maria Keena was there when the ribbon was cut on the nearly 27,000-square-foot facility that will serve as a safe place for 1,500 teens between the ages of 12 and 18.
It sits just feet from the street that was once filled with protests and violence five years ago. Mayor James Knowles said he knows the teen center is not a cure-all, but it's a start for his town.
Knowles continues to push for more improvements, including the Great Streets program, which was first envisioned long before the unrest.
"City of Ferguson officials and myself, especially, had seen what this corridor had become," Knowles said. "And I grew up just a couple blocks away ... and it was a great corridor, but unfortunately over the years, it had just fallen into disrepair and decay."
Knowles acknowledges there are still problems and while the teen center is wonderful, it won't reach everyone.
"As we heard in the Ferguson Report, it's not just this corridor," Knowles said. "Oftentimes the national media misrepresented the fact that people were just upset here on this block. the reality is these disparities exist throughout our region, throughout our country."
Knowles is concerned there isn't enough change happening in the region.
