VENTURA : Youth Center Marks 1st Anniversary

More than 50 children celebrated the Westview Village youth center’s one-year anniversary Wednesday by doing what kids love to do: playing all day.

Children and parents enjoyed a community barbecue, took swings at a pinata and donned colorful Westview Village T-shirts in commemoration of the anniversary.

“I like it here,” said John Poehler, 12, a Westview Village resident who was eyeing a corner shot on the center’s pool table. “Before, all there was to do was lie on the couch and watch TV.”

“There was nothing else to do,” agreed Omar Lopez, 16, who was playing pool with John.

Giving children a place of their own is the purpose of the youth center, said Jenise Heck, coordinator of youth programs for the Ventura Parks and Recreation Department. Westview Village, located on West Vince Street, includes 180 family units and is designated as a low-income housing project by the federal government, Heck said.

“There were a lot of kids in the area who didn’t have a lot to do,” Heck said. “We try to make it a place where they are comfortable instead of hanging out on Ventura Avenue.”

Housed in a former refrigerator storage warehouse, the center offers arts and crafts, board games, sports on an adjacent field and excursions to local recreation areas. Most of the equipment is donated, Heck said.

The center, and another like it in the Cabrillo Village housing project, seem to be working, said Omar Zapata, a staff member at the Westview center. “We’re here to keep them out of trouble,” he said as he watched small children scramble for candy from the broken pinata. “Before, they were hanging out on the streets. There’s less trouble now.”

Zapata, 19, said he knows the streets well, having grown up in the neighborhood and gotten into a few scrapes with the law before enrolling at Ventura College and becoming a counselor. “I’ve had my ups and downs. I can talk to the kids,” he said.

The center takes children on regular excursions to the beach, to local campgrounds and baseball games.

“I went to see the Dodgers last week,” John Poehler said. “But they didn’t win.”

“Yeah, they never win,” Omar Lopez said.

Cabrillo Village, a housing project on Saticoy Avenue in Ventura, will hold a similar anniversary celebration today, Heck said.