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My name is Kenneth Darden, most of the kids already know me, but I am the president and
CEO of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Metropolitan Baltimore. And today we want to welcome everyone,
we have some wonderful guests here. Today we want to welcome everyone to the dedication
and grand opening for the Brooklyn O’Malley Boys and Girls Club. So let’s give ourselves
a round of applause.
I want to thank those who are joining us today. I know that the council president couldn’t
be with us, but he did send Kayla as a representative. Thank you very much for being here. And I
want to thank Mr. Darden and his team from Boys and Girls Club. And today we are here
really to celebrate Ken’s team and their commitment to Baltimore. When I came in to
office, I created a task force of community leaders to plan the improvement of our Recreation
Centers. It was so important to me that our recreation centers look just like this.
And when I say like this, I’m not talking about these four walls. I’m talking about
having a center that is full of young men and young women who appreciate and value the
programming that is offered at the different centers. And I wanted this to be in centers
all across our city. I wanted so much for us to find ways that we could improve programming
and opportunities for kids. And that’s what we are in the process of doing. We had to
re-think our approach to recreation, and we developed a plan that includes nearly $20
million in city investment to create four new community centers (which are our new recreation
centers, which are more than recreation centers so we call them community centers). We’re
increasing the programming or the different activities that we have at 10 different centers,
and adding new staffing models at 16 centers. And we are also including something that we’ve
never done before. And that’s just like what we’re doing here, where we call on
community partners to operate some of our most vulnerable centers. The Council approved
the plan in 2011, and it wasn’t...you know, everybody wasn’t on board. But I think if
they could be here and see what I see with this partnership, all the detractors would
be silenced. So, I’m very excited to be here. I know that Councilman Reisinger is
a big, big supporter of the center and this community and I’m pleased that he’s been
working with us and we are working to keep a number of our recreation centers open and
to make sure we have partnerships, like this strong partnership to make sure that young
people like you, but all over the city have safe places to go that offers them just what
they want to be able to continue to grow, even when school is out, and to be able to
learn, to be able to grow, and to be in good fellowship with one another. And this type
of partnership would not be possible without the hard work of Bill Tyler, Bill Vondrasek,
and the entire team that is committed to ensuring that we have quality opportunities for young
people. No matter what zip code you grow up in, that there’s a chance for you to have
great opportunities like this. I know this process has not been easy. I know that’s
an understatement, right bill? But I appreciate his hard work and the willingness to carry
forth my vision for quality recreation centers throughout the city. And I also want to thank
all of the Rec and Parks staff that worked on this project; Ms. Furtado, Ms. Fields and
Paul Williams. Prior to the transition, they worked tirelessly in this center to make sure
that this was a safe haven for kids. And since taking over management of the center in September,
the Boys and Girls Club has already registered 100 youth and serves about 75 members every
day. And that’s what we want to see all over the city. Boys and Girls Clubs provide
education and prevention programs to more than 3200 kids citywide. And in addition,
they have been a reliable source in the communities--committed partners in the communities where they serve.
I appreciate and value the partnership. I also appreciate the significant and positive
impact the Boys and Girls clubs have on our young people. This is the type of partnership
that we need in order to convince families to stay in Baltimore and to convince families
to move into Baltimore. And I know to reach my goal of growing our city by 10,000 families
over the next 10 years, we’ll need more partnerships like the Boys & Girls Club. So,
thank you very much for everything that you are doing to help me make Baltimore better,
safer, stronger--and a growing city. Thank you very much.