Add to Del.icio.us
Digg this Article
Add to Mixx
Kids in Anacostia have a reason to celebrate these days, something to make them hope and dream. They have a new destination – and maybe new destinies. It’s the exceptional new Town Hall, Education, Arts and Recreation Campus (THEARC). More than 7,000 children live within a one-mile radius of this mega-facility that is designed to serve as a safe-haven for families and their children in this Southeast, Washington neighborhood, which is also known as Ward 8.
THEARC is a much needed addition to Ward 8, home to 85 percent of DC’s welfare recipients. An estimated 800 clients could use the community center each day. Before and after school supervised activities, summer camps, music lessons, dance lessons and sports leagues are among the valuable services offered.
Roxanne Spillett, president of the Boys & Girls Clubs of America, came from Atlanta, GA, for the recent ribbon-cutting at THEARC. “I have been to over a thousand clubs. This facility is one of the finest,” she says. “It is beautiful.”
With the opening of THEARC comes the opening of the 100th Intel Computer Clubhouse, which includes a state-of-the-art computer center and a sound studio, within the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Washington (BGCGW), one of the organizations housed here. The 110,000-square-foot facility, which is on 16.4 acres, was developed by Building Bridges Across the River Inc. It also includes a 350-seat theatre for performing arts and movies, a gymnasium, arts and crafts, and a large teen center. All this in a neighborhood that didn’t have so much as a single bowling alley before now.
But that’s all changed. The Washington Ballet, the Levine School of Music, Covenant House Washington and Children’s Hospital are among other organizations that are offering programs and services at THEARC.
“This community deserves this facility and the collaboration that’s going to come from this building,” says Theressa Green, NE/SE area director of BGCGW. “We’re working every single day with the partners to bring this community a comprehensive and well-rounded program. This is a dream come true.” Just ask the kids in Anacostia.
