Brooklyn Park Staff Ready to Offer New Programming When Teen Center Opens This Spring
The new Brooklyn Park teen center at Zanewood Recreation Center is almost open, and staff are working on new programming ideas to fit the space that offers so many options.
“We’re planning to have a grand opening at the end of April some time, to welcome everyone into the new space and to have an open house to showcase all of the different work we’re going to be doing in the building,” said City of Brooklyn Park Teen Program Specialist Dystany Gatlin.
She said the city will still offer its school-aged programming year-round, along with Rec on the Go programming.
The Wood should be open by the end of April at Zanewood Recreation Center.
The Wood teen center also features podcast, music recording, and a small television production space for kids to learn multimedia skills.
The old spaces at Zanewood have also been refreshed.
“We also have our control room, which is our new, re-vamped game room where kids can come in and explore what they want to do,” said Gatlin.
Gatlin has started a program she calls Family Ties, that offers workshops for different relationship dynamics (mother-daughter, siblings, etc.) within the family unit.
“It’s a new program we’re bringing here that is built to engage family dynamics and have them work together as a family,” said Gatlin. “There’s seven different workshops in that program, so we want our parents involved, we want our teachers involved, we want our youth involved. The main driver is community.”
The city continues to place an emphasis on intervention programs, including for youth, to help strengthen the community.
“Community used to be inherited. Now it has to be built,” said Gatlin. “That’s what we’re doing here. We’re building community with the intentionality of the programming inside the building.”
