The Dugan Best Recreational Center celebrated its 45th anniversary last Saturday, and officials with the recreation center say they’ve been working to extend the center’s operating hours and to provide a handful of new programs that will promote employment for the community’s youth and reduce the risk of gun violence.
Owensboro Parks and Recreation Director Amanda Rogers said she was fortunate to work alongside employees like Dugan Best Recreational Center Director Michael Gray and volunteer worker Jenae Hall. After meeting with some representatives from My Brother’s Keepers — a group of citizens who’ve recently started a nonprofit to decrease gun violence — Rogers spoke with Gray about extending the hours of operation at the rec center.
The representatives from the nonprofit met with Rogers on June 8 to discuss extending the center’s hours to 1 a.m. and starting a summer youth program. While the 1 a.m. extension was not agreed upon, Rogers compromised with the group.
“In discussing with them what our abilities to do were, and what we could do, we decided we will start extending those hours beginning Monday, July 22 until 9 p.m. and we’ll be open Monday through Saturday,” she said.
Currently, the Dugan Best Recreational Center operates from 2:30-7 p.m. The extra two operating hours will serve as a six-week trial run, giving the parks department some time to publicize the changes and to see how well the community responds.
“We’ll check and see how it’s being utilized,” she said. “As long as people are coming through our doors, we’re glad to be there and stay open until whatever hours so we can make it beneficial to the youth in our community.”
Rogers and the representatives she met with left the June 8 meeting without a clear solution for the idea of a summer youth program, which would provide youth in the community with employment opportunities during their summer break. Rogers said she and a group of others are still working to determine how this program could successfully operate.
A program idea that did gain traction was proposed by resident and Owensboro Public Schools board member Michael Johnson. In facilitating a monthly program that promotes employment services for the youth, Rogers said the parks department would begin working with representatives from Owensboro Community & Technical College to make this happen.
Rogers said this program could offer assistance from helping with online job applications to discussing the different employment opportunities available.
“You may or may not know that Mike is a basketball coach at Brescia University, so he’s going to be working with his young student athletes to come into our center two days a week and do a mentorship and tutoring program,” she said. “I think that’ll be a great expansion of connections and partnerships in the community, and it will help the young people who do attend our center see success in other young people who are here from Owensboro.”
Rogers said a summer youth program could be possible as soon as next summer, but that it would require working partnerships between Dugan Best, the parks department and a number of businesses that would be willing to provide financial contributions.
