Teen center fulfills longtime commitment

Having an idea is the easy part. Most people, given the opportunity, can come up with ways to improve their cities or neighborhoods. The follow-through is the hard part, the ability to take idea from concept to execution a remarkable skill.

Take establishing a Southside Teen Center, a concept city leaders have been discussing for almost two decades. Finally, city officials and supporters broke ground on the 17,000-square-foot center last week.

In 18 months or so, a center for teenagers where they live will be open for fun, education, community building, art projects and exercise.

Finally.

City and state leaders worked together to find some $10 million in funds to build the center, located at Country Club Road and Valentine Way — it will be just across from the Southside Branch Library, another important resource in the city’s fastest growing area.

It was a project former District 3 City Councilor Carmichael Dominguez fought for during his service on the council. His efforts were remembered at the groundbreaking last week, as they should have been.

Before the rest of the city really understood how much the south side was changing, Dominguez spoke out for his neighbors, demanding that they receive necessary services. Not just libraries or teen centers, either, but grocery stores, walking trails and other amenities of life many take for granted.

As Dominguez said in an interview about the groundbreaking, “It’s interesting how this community, as progressive as it claims to be, we still have the same problems as other communities where there are inequities. The young people have always dealt with the results of that inequity.”

The teen center helps balance the scale somewhat.

While programming for young people exists, for example, at the Genoveva Chavez Community Center, only the Carlos Ortega Center on Agua Fría Street, closer to downtown, has programming specifically for kids age 12 to 18. Young people deserve spaces for them where they can develop skills and realize their dreams — and placing a teen center where young people live supports that process.

Dominguez left the council before his vision was realized, but current District 3 councilors Chris Rivera and Roman “Tiger” Abeyta continued to push for the teen center. It helped that Mayor Alan Webber made its construction a priority during his first term. Both he and Abeyta are running for reelection this year, and getting the money for the teen center will be, for them, a promise kept to take before voters.

State legislators helped find the money, too, and the entire City Council backed the teen center. The state is contributing some $6.8 million, with the city pitching in $3.2 million. Dollars spent shows where priorities lie, and in the case of the Southside Teen Center, Santa Fe and New Mexico are demonstrating they believe in investing in young people. Making these investments will create a stronger, brighter future for all of Santa Fe.