Youth club being proposed
Residents asked to attend community meeting on Monday
The MLA for Cape Breton Centre says he wants to see a boys and girls club established in the community as well as a place to house it.
“I’m working on plans for an addition to the New Waterford rink,” said David Wilton. He said the addition would be a community centre and include an outdoor skate park.
“I have a lot of community support for this and the skate part. Our skate park is more than 20 years old, it needs to be replaced.”
Wilton and Dist. 11 Coun. Kendra Coombes are inviting residents to a meeting to discuss the need for a youth club.
The meeting will take place at branch 15 Royal Canadian Legion in New Waterford on Monday at 7 p.m.
Wilton said one of the challenge is identifying programs to fit the needs of the various age groups.
Wilton said he has met with Chester Borden, executive director of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Cape Breton-Whitney Pier Youth Club, to access information.
During Monday’s meeting Wilton says he will discuss plans for an addition to the rink.
Wilton said the proposed space — about the size of a gymnasium — would also support other community events. “We’ve lost two schools, the plan is to get something to replace that,” he said. “The plans are being drafted up now and I’m working on the cost.”
Wilton said he has already discussed funding with various levels of government.
He said it’s important that all levels of government realize the importance of these youth clubs especially with drug problems in communities such as New Waterford.
“It’s such a passion of mine to stop the drugs in New Waterford,” he said.
Wilton said he has also started the same conversation in Dominion as the former Macdonald school is about to be returned to the province.
“We will be having a meeting there soon too as that building could be useful. With the right community involvement and volunteers and help from Chester, we can hopefully do one in each community.”
Wilton said the government does have some programming available to help with wages for youth counsellors and renovations.
Coombes is encouraging residents to come to the meeting.
“I’m so excited about this, I think it will be a wonderful thing for our community to have,” she said. “We need to know we will have the community support going forward.”
Coombes said her desire for a youth club began before she was elected to the Cape Breton Regional Municipality council.
She has also been in touch with Borden.
“I called him and the next thing I knew he called me back and we started almost weekly conversations.”
Coombs and Wilton have toured the Whitney Pier youth club.
She said as a youth she wasn’t into sports so she understands the need for other programs.
“A club like Chester’s with all these programs in place — literacy programs, leadership programs, self-esteem, selfconfidence building programs — that’s something I would have enjoyed immensely.”
Coombes said her vision would be to see people from the community with specialties — whether coding, cooking or even knitting — come out to the club and spend an afternoon with the kids.
She said following the meeting Monday her next step will be to meet with the youth and talk about what they want and need for such a club.
“We need to hear from them and they need to feel they are being heard and they need to be heard.”