THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, July 29, 1994 TAG: 9407270118
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 04 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PHYLLIS SPEIDELL, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 90 lines
Girls Inc. needs $43,000 by Aug. 15.
Without the cash in hand, Girls Inc., formerly known as the Girls Club of Portsmouth, will have to postpone indefinitely its plans for a new Center for Youth of Southwest Hampton Roads.
Girls Inc. hopes for a spring 1995 groundbreaking. A new 12,000-square-foot, $1,162,000 center has been planned for a 2 1/2-acre site on Portsmouth Boulevard in the Hodges Manor section. To close the deal on the land by the Aug. 15 deadline, Girls Inc. needs $60,000 cash.
The United Way has pledged funding for 49 percent of the building's costs. Although other pledges, including a significant pledge from the Beazley Foundation, have been made, Girls Inc. has received only $17,000 in cash so far.
``The situation is critical if we are to close on the land,'' said Michelle Johnson, Girls Inc. executive director.
Girls Inc. serves more than 1,000 boys and girls, ages 3 to 16, each year from its current center on Race Street in the Westhaven section. Unfortunately, that center, home to the Center for Youth for more than 30 years, is showing signs of severe deterioration.
The World War II-era building was used as an annex to Westhaven Elementary School and for storage until The Girls Club of Portsmouth moved into the facility in the early 1960s.
``Patchwork repairs are no longer feasible,'' said Michael Spencer, a member of the Girls Inc. board of directors who is chairing the capital campaign. ``Major renovations are needed to comply with state regulations.''
Preliminary renovation estimates of repair costs outweigh the life of the present structure, said Spencer, who also is principal of Waters Middle School.
Without a new building, the Center for Youth will be forced to close.
The proposed Center for Youth would allow Girls Inc. to expand its programming to youngsters in Suffolk and Isle of Wight as well as Portsmouth and western Chesapeake.
``There is a need as there are no services of our nature available to families and children in Suffolk and Isle of Wight,'' Johnson said. ``Our wildest dream would be to put up a whole center there, but we feel we can respond to some of that need with the strategic location of our new center in Portsmouth.''
The Portsmouth Boulevard location, convenient to major thoroughfares, is not far from the Portsmouth/Chesapeake border and easily accessible to Suffolk residents as well.
The new Center For Youth would include classrooms, offices, library, kitchen, a multipurpose room, locker rooms and an aquatics center with an indoor swimming pool. Transportation to the new center would be provided to the children.
Currently, before- and after-school programs, as well as full-day summer programming provides a home away from home for hundreds of children.
Girls Inc. also sponsors programs aimed at substance abuse, conflict resolution, peer pressure and teen pregnancy.
``All of our programming is preventative,'' Johnson said. ``Our goal is to meet the youngsters where they are in order to prevent problems.''
``When I first became involved with Girls Inc., it was the only youth organization that had a structured curriculum aimed toward preventative skills,'' Spencer said. ``It was the kind of program I would want to put my kids in.''
``A lot of people have the impression that we serve low-income, impoverished children, and that is not true,'' Johnson added. Girls Inc. membership in Portsmouth is almost equally divided between boys and girls.
``Most of our youngsters are from low- to middle-income households, facing normal issues that youngsters are confronting during their developmental years and that we are equipped to address,'' Johnson said.
Girls Inc. of Portsmouth is one of 135 affiliates of the national Girls Inc., which was organized in 1945 as the Girls Clubs of America. Several years ago, the national group changed its name to Girls Inc.
In 1958, the Portsmouth Service League opened the first local Girls Club with a $20,000 donation and thousands of volunteer hours.
``Our first location was Downtown on South Street, a three-story Victorian house painted a bilious yellow,'' recalled Mary Hook, one of the original volunteers.
Johnson is hopeful that the new center will allow Girls Inc. to develop some intergenerational programming to actively involve the children with local senior citizens. ``We also hope to offer the facilities and pool to local civic organizations and for senior citizen activities,'' she said. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by MARK MITCHELL
Mike Spencer, chairman of fund raising, and Michelle Johnson,
executive director, are leading the drive.
by CNB