Boys & Girls Club teens to get their own private space

By Gracie Bonds Staples

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

On any given day, nearly 120 teens gather at the A. Worley Brown Boys & Girls Club in Norcross, away from the temptation of the streets.

They do homework, play a round of basketball, they gather for pep talks with the executive director, “no excuses” Desmond Brown, often within earshot of their younger brothers and sisters.

They have shared this space since the club opened nearly 10 years ago and without complaint.

“I love it here,” said Briana Goolsby. “It’s like a second home.”

But even Briana, a 14-year-old Norcross High School freshman, was excited to learn recently that Worley teens will soon have their own space, separate from their siblings.

The Teen Center is one of two – the other is in Douglasville -- under construction in metro Atlanta. Two more – one at the Barksdale club in Conyers and the other in Lawrenceville – have already opened.

The new 6,000-square-foot center, estimated to cost some $900,000 to build and outfit, will be located adjacent to the old building just off Buford Highway.

Although important to the teens they are being built to accommodate, this isn’t just about private spaces, said William Lampley, president of the Boys & Girls Club of Metro Atlanta. It is about being able to reach more teens during those critical hours after school, and then keeping them engaged long enough to see them graduate high school and enter college.

Idle teenagers, studies show, are more likely to indulge in risky behavior.

“We want to make sure they are on track to graduate high school and open their eyes to other opportunities,” said Lampley, a Boys & Girls Club alum.

The clubs, Lampley said, offer a variety of activities specifically geared toward teens, including the College Bound program, career launch and Keystone leadership program.

Based on focus groups and attendance at clubs that have Teen Centers, Lampley said, more teens are apt to show up and take advantage of the programs if they have their own dedicated space.

He said the organization serves nearly 17,000 kids across metro Atlanta. Of those, 6,000 are teenagers aged 13 to 18 and that’s the group they want to keep engaged.

“Serving the teenage population is one of the most important things we do,” Lampley said. “The probability of them succeeding goes up when they participate in our clubs.”

For instance, Lampley said, 88 percent of teens who participate in the College Bound program, graduate from high school.

“We know our programs work,” he said, “but the onus is on us to get the kids here, keep them engaged and involved, and if a teen center is what we need to make that happen then that is what we need to do.”

Briana has spent half her life at the Worley Brown Club just off Buford Highway. Her little sister, Ariel, a seventh grader at Ivy Preparatory Academy, also attends.

Their mother, Patricia Goolsby, 46, said the club became a safe haven for her daughters shortly after her divorce seven years ago, when she could no longer afford to pay for traditional after-school care.

“They offer a variety of programs and extra-curricular activities and expose them to things I wouldn’t have the money to expose them to,” Goolsby said.

Having a teen center, she said, is an extra incentive for other teens to take advantage of those opportunities.

Because the teen years can be a “strange time for kids," Goolsby said, "it's important for them to have their own space to figure themselves out."

“They don’t know if they are an adult or a child,” she said.

Teens currently gather on the south end of the center, but it can be difficult to find space away from their younger siblings.

Although she doesn't mind helping them with homework, Briana said she’d rather not "have to deal with little kids."

"I'd rather have a separate place to go to," she said. "It makes me feel free, like I’ve accomplished something.”