Boys & Girls Club to Dedicate New Unit

The West Valley Boys & Girls Club will celebrate the opening of a new unit Thursday on the campus of Columbus Middle School.

The Columbus Teen Unit will feature a game room, a teen lounge, a computer lab, arts and crafts and homework study areas.

The unit will open with the assistance of a $75,000 federal grant, part of a recent $20-million congressional appropriation to the Boys & Girls Clubs of America. The funds are part of a five-year effort to serve 1 million additional youths nationally.

Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Sherman Oaks) will attend opening celebration festivities. City Council members Laura Chick and Richard Alarcon, County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, Assemblyman Robert Hertzberg (D-Sherman Oaks) and representatives from the mayor’s office are also expected to attend.

Currently, 192 youths--mostly Columbus Middle School and Canoga Park High School students--are members of the new unit, which opened unofficially in November.

The first unit of the West Valley Boys & Girls Club has operated on the campus of Calvert Street Elementary in Woodland Hills since 1995. Combined membership for both West Valley clubs is estimated at more than 550 but club officials said they hope to add 200 members during the next several months.

Currently, there are nearly 2,000 clubs nationwide working with about 3 million youths in such areas as leadership development, community service and alcohol and drug prevention.

The Columbus Teen Unit grand opening celebration will take place from 4 to 7 p.m. at the school, 22250 Elkwood St., Room 44.

For more information, call (818) 340-3561.