Paterson's Great Falls Youth Center unveils $3M expansion
PATERSON — Community leaders on Tuesday celebrated the opening of a $3 million expansion of the Great Falls Youth Center, a project that’s supposed to increase by almost double the number of teens using the facility.
The expansion includes a new podcast studio, two multi-purpose rooms, a kitchen and a rooftop event space, officials said.
Who uses the Great Falls Youth Center?
The center on Front Street is owned and operated by one of Paterson’s most prominent nonprofit organizations, the New Jersey Community Development Corporation. The center stands a few hundred yards from John F. Kennedy High School.
The youth center, which opened in 2018, had served about 100 to 120 students per day prior to the expansion, said NJCDC executive director Bob Guarasci. The group expects the expanded facility to have programs for about 200 teens per day, he said.
Important donor: When a Paterson youth center needed help, this Bergen County woman stepped up — with $1M
New Jersey State government provided $1.5 million for the project, while the city allocated $500,000 in Community Development Block Grant money. Marilyn Clark of Woodcliff Lake donated $1 million for the work.
“I believe when we’re investing in our young people, we’re investing in tomorrow’s leaders,” Clark said during Tuesday’s ceremony.
What did Great Falls Youth Center participants say?
Among the speakers at Tuesday's ceremony was Danny Gonzalez, who had participated in the original youth center when it opened five years ago.
“It gave us a safe space to come and grow together,” said Gonzalez, who recently graduated from Montclair State University.
Two current Paterson high school students talked about how the youth center was important to them. D’Asia Curry said the program “helped me get out of my shell.”
LaJay Johnson, 15, who attends Kennedy, said she made her first visit to the center after her first day of high school. LaJay said she had expected it to be a “hang-out spot.”
“It was a lot more professional than I thought,” she said.
Joe Malinconico is editor of Paterson Press. Email: editor@patersonpress.com
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Paterson NJ: Great Falls Youth Center unveils $3M expansion
