Youth Movement : Opening of Compton Center Mixing Education, Recreation Has a Super Bowl Feel

With enough hoopla to rival the Super Bowl, the National Football League’s new high-tech education and recreation center opened Tuesday in Compton to the cheers of Raiders and Rams and the hopeful expectations of many community leaders.

Located at Gateway Plaza shopping center at Rosecrans and Central avenues, the NFL’s Youth Education Town is a 20,000-square-foot facility designed to help the area’s at-risk youth excel in academics, physical fitness and job-related skills in a positive, gang-free atmosphere.

“We want to provide a constructive alternative for young people, a safe haven, a place where both their bodies and their minds can be expanded,” said Herbert Carter, president and chief executive officer of United Way of Greater Los Angeles, one of the center’s sponsors. “It is truly a community marriage and it’s very exciting.”

The $2-million center, which got $1 million of its funding from singer Garth Brooks, is a state-of-the-art after-school hangout with a library, tutors, preparation classes for the Scholastic Aptitude Test, computer instruction and a fitness area with NFL-quality exercise equipment. The center is open to anyone who pays the $5 annual membership fee.

“The weight room is awesome,” said Michael Gates, 17, a student at Compton High School who watched the proceedings from a friend’s home that faces the center. “I’m glad it’s here. We’ve been needing something around here besides the parks.”

The program is specifically aimed at young people 13 to 18, said Cynthia Utz, United Way’s media relations director.

“The academic curriculum is integrated with the Compton Unified School District but it goes way beyond that,” Utz said. “They’ll have remedial tutoring programs so that if kids need help in certain subjects, they can get that.”

The center also will provide at least four certified teachers--two English teachers and two math-science teachers--every day for homework help.

Overseeing the day-to-day management of the center will be former Raider Michael Davis, one of several former and current professional football players who attended the opening. Raised within walking distance of the club, near 120th and Bellhaven Streets, Davis said he has faith in the center’s ability to help transform the community.

“When I was growing up, as a lot of these kids are growing up now, we had dreams,” said Davis. “How do you fulfill those dreams? With hope. And what we offer here is hope and real opportunities.”

Among other things, the center will provide extensive computer training on full-color, top-of-the-line computers donated by the Digital Equipment Corp., one of more than 40 corporations that donated time, money and equipment for the project.

“It’s getting better for us,” said Calvin Perkins, 10, as he played KidPix, a video-game learning program in the center’s computer room. “It will help people get off the street.”

Overall, the center’s sponsors are confident the program will succeed.

“When we got involved in the project last fall I insisted that we develop a strategy that would guarantee at least four years of funding,” said Carter. “We were able to do that with the generosity of the board of directors of the United Way and its gift of over $500,000 over five years to this project.”

For NFL Hall of Fame member John Mackey, the center’s opening provided a proud moment for the city of Compton, the Los Angeles area and the NFL.

“The Super Bowl came and went, but L.A. is better because the NFL came through,” said Mackey. “They scored a touchdown.”