ST PAUL, Minn. — In wake of the fatal shooting of a 15-year-old Wednesday night at the Jimmy Lee Recreation Center in St. Paul, there's been a push for more resources and investments in youth programs.
"We've seen the demand and we've known that we need it," said Angie Goettl, assistant executive director at the Hallie Q Brown Community Center.
Which is why the team at the community center in the heart of St. Paul's Rondo Neighborhood is expanding its reach to children beyond the elementary age.
"It's been something that we've been thinking about for a while," said Goettl.
With a new after-school program specifically geared toward middle and high school students.
"We just want a safe place for them and a place where they can come and be focused on what they have to focus you know not on protecting themselves or not on…trying to survive," said Goettl.
The new drop-in center will focus its efforts on academics and technology.
"We are also partnering with some of the local colleges to have some students come in and be the tutors," explained Goettl.
"Those types of resources time and again are shown to be critical to the long-term positive educational outcomes of students regardless of demographic," said Connor Simmons, Hallie Q Brown's grants manager.
Outcomes that address the need for more critical resources, ultimately saving lives and bright futures.
"We need to talk, we need to share our feelings in order for everybody to know that working together and bringing light to what's happening is the only way that we can make change happen," said Goettl.
This new after-school program will launch the second week of March on a drop-in basis from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. and is free of charge.
The directors at Hallie Q Brown hope this will be the first of many more programs to fill the gaps, catering to the needs of young adults in the community.
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