Boys & Girls Club Opens in Casa Loma

About 500 local youngsters have a new place to play--and learn.

The month-old Boys & Girls Club at the Casa Loma housing project offers tutoring, computer education, outdoor recreation and environmental education. Drug, gang and teen pregnancy prevention programs are also offered to the 8- to 18-year-old residents of Casa Loma.

Casa Loma is a 110-unit, low-income housing project three blocks south of Belmont High that caters to single-parent families, predominantly those headed by Latinas. The $18-million development, which was designed with built-in space for support services, is an effort by New Economics for Women, a nonprofit, Downtown-based organization.

“We developed a relationship with the clubs and looked at the programs that they offered and thought it was perfect for the Casa Loma residents to use,” said Maggie Cervantes, the organization’s executive director.

Boys & Girls Clubs aim to fill a longstanding void in neighborhoods where children have few alternatives to substance abuse or gang involvement, said Maria Lopez-Henderson, regional service director of the clubs. “That is where the biggest gap is here,” she said. “The basic strategy is working in conjunction with housing projects.”

The nationwide organization has only two other inner-city clubs, Challengers in South Central and Watts-Willowbrook, which serve about 3,500 youths.

Lopez-Henderson said the organization is attempting to develop programs in the Imperial Court, Nickerson Gardens and Jordan Downs housing projects in Watts. Schools in lower-income areas are also target sites, she said.

The opening of the Casa Loma Club was funded by an $85,000 grant from AT&T.; Youth activities are provided from 9 a.m to 9 p.m. daily.

Boys & Girls Clubs of America leads a network of 1,600 neighborhood-based facilities, which serve more than 2 million youths, primarily from disadvantaged areas.

Information: (310) 643-3740 for the club or (213) 484-9805 for Casa Loma housing.