The city sponsored activities for youth last summer and is doubling funding for the program this year. Photo of 2012 activities courtesy the mayor’s office.
Hoping to divert youth away from congregating late at night at entertainment centers like the Plaza and Westport, Mayor Sly James on Tuesday announced expanded youth programs.
“Since Moby Dick was a minnow, kids have hung out,” James said at a press conference.
“We’re not here just to tell kids where they can’t go and when they can’t be there,” he said.
He urged youth to sign up for and get identification cards to participate in safe Mayor Night’s activities that include Club KC, Night Hoops, Night Kicks and Night Nets.
The programs partly respond to a long history of late night disturbances. Earlier this month, a dozen juveniles were arrested after fights broke out in and around the Plaza. Police said up to 250 minors gathered there late at night.
James said Tuesday that funding for Club KC is doubling this year to $400,000 and the program will run on weekend nights for 12 weeks instead of eight last year. It also will be available at five community centers instead of three.
Club KC is for middle and high school students and features live DJs, dancing, basketball, swim parties and food and drink sales.
It served about 7,300 youths last year, James said, and “I don’t think we had any arrests or any incidences of any kind.”
This year Club KC begins on May 24 and the Mayor’s Nights athletic programs begin the week of June 10.
The first 100 to register for identification cards for any of the programs and pick them up at any of the five community centers get a free pass to The Bay or The Springs water parks.
People can register online and pick up the cards at any of these five centers: Brush Creek Community Center, Gregg/Klice Community Center, Hillcrest Community Center, Tony Aguirre Community Center or Kansas City North Community Center.
For more Information
- Website
- Facebook: facebook.com/MayorsNightsKC
- Twitter: @MayorsNightsKC
- Instagram: MAYORSNIGHTSKC
- Hashtag: #mayorsnightskc
- Office of Civic and Community Engagement, roosevelt.lyons@kcmo.org, 816-513-3500 (Office)
Who’s talking