Community centers work to keep kids safe
Community centers offer safety, camaraderie.
In a West Palm neighborhood where there have been six gun deaths this year, groups are trying to give children a happier reality.
WEST PALM BEACH — The playground on Rosemary Avenue is about a block long. Nearly 100 kids, from ages 3 to 13, can play on the grass or chase each other from one end of the field to the other. They can slide, swing on and scale multicolored playground equipment that glistens.
It all seems like a typical scene, but what sets it apart is a stark reality: Its West Palm Beach neighborhood has seen six gun deaths since late April.
During the summer, when there is typically a spike in crime and violence, the Salvation Army and other community centers are working to keep kids of all ages off the streets — well-fed, educated and able to enjoy themselves in a safe environment.
Sylvia Sharps, the educational director at the Salvation Army Northwest Community Center, said it’s unfortunate that gun violence and criminal activity has become normalized.
“I want the children to see something positive in the neighborhood,” said Sharps, who has counseled in the community for the past 20 years.
Inside the Salvation Army community center, home to the playground, 46 black-and-white portraits adorn the walls, showcasing the faces of the children who spend time there.
Each photo shows a distinct personality: some are smiling, some cover their faces or shy out of frame. Others stand confidently, making eye contact with the lens. One boy poses like a boxer, with his fists up. A girl points skyward. Another boy grabs at his hoodie and sticks out his tongue.
“It’s amazing how much you can see just by looking at them in the eye,” Sharps said. “Not enough people take the time to do that.”
At the Salvation Army, she sees children from kindergarten until eighth grade. They play basketball, read books and eat meals together. They dance, and play music and can get personal services, such as counseling or tutoring. They go to the movies, the pool and the fairgrounds.
But she said older kids can easily fall into trouble.
In the historic Northwest neighborhood, there are some restaurants, convenience stores and churches, but there is little for children and teens to do, Sharps said. There’s no skate park, bowling alley, movie theater or museum.
To occupy older students who don’t qualify for aftercare programs, the Salvation Army has a high school program that takes the students to colleges and also provides opportunities for fun. During the summer, the Salvation Army center partners with other local community centers to throw parties, giving teenagers from different neighborhoods a chance to meet and get to know each other.
“The idea is to give these young ladies and gentlemen a safe place to go and have fun,” executive director Michael Pinkney said. “Whatever the average upper-middle-class kid has, I want our kids to experience the same thing.”
He said many of the kids who
the center sees have witnessed violence in some form. Not only does the aftercare program give parents a safe place to send their kids, Pinkney said community centers give the children “a chance to escape and actually be children.”
Pinkey also said the program aims to help families as a whole, which ultimately benefits the children.
As for Sharps, she remains confident the neighborhood can prosper.
A few blocks away on North Tamarind Avenue, the Police Athletic League of West Palm Beach has a similar mission: to try to keep children away from gangs, gunfire and other street violence.
“You don’t have troubled kids,” said program director JT Taylor. “You have kids who can easily get in trouble.”
The building is smaller than the Salvation Army center, and it too has a playground. Taylor is hoping to convert that space into a multipurpose court. He said, in its current form, the older kids who come to the league can’t use it as anything more than a place to sit and talk.
Taylor got involved in the Police Athletic League of Boca when he was 11 years old.
He said he grew up in a similar neighborhood and was able to make a change because of the officers’ help.
He said the League is there to show children that there’s more to life than the streets, and its goal is to “fill playgrounds, not prisons.”
The League offers Teen Club, where people can come in and play games or read, along with different sporting events, like football, wrestling, basketball and cheer.
Still, they can only do so much.
“Our doors have to close at some point, but the streets never shut down,” and violence has become the norm, Taylor said.
“When you grow up in the war zone, it’s just normal,” he said. “It’s like waking up and hearing birds chirp every morning if you live in the forest.”
Tyreik Kelly, a 17-year-old Forest Hill High School student, said he started going to PAL two years ago and it’s changed his life. He now is a member of the mayor’s youth council.
“As kids grow up, they get the idea that violence is OK because it’s normal,” Kelly said. “When you go to the center, they teach you we can change.”