A soccer program, a step team and a train room: Take a peek inside Rochester's R-Centers

The minute Kamorha Mimms walks into the David F. Gantt R-Center on North Street, the outside world seems to disappear.

For a 13-year-old girl who says she wears her emotions on her sleeve, that’s an impressive feat. But for two hours, there’s nothing more important than the routine in front of her: An eight-count beat that turns stomping, clapping and spoken word into a rhythmic performance.

And so, Mimms said, she pushes any emotion she carries in with her ― happy, sad, angry ― into those movements alone.

Mimms is part of the Roc Royals, a new step team that launched out of the recreation center last fall.

Three times a week, 10 girls ages 10 to 17 trade their laced-up sneakers, white Crocs and Kelly-green cloud slides for black heels with a thin strap across the ankles and learn to dance.

Earlier this month they held their first showcase at a family carnival put on by the recreation center. Next year, they hope to compete against other regional teams.

“It helps people come out of their shell, especially shy people like when the coaches choose people to chant,” Mimms said.

Time and time again, city officials point to Rochester’s 11 R-Centers as one of the most valuable resources the city can offer its young people.

The recreation centers boast over 200 free activities, ranging from cooking classes to flag football, video games, recording studios, Lego labs and more. They take local field trips and run specialty camps and educational workshops.

But they also provide stability and safety.

When speaking about the “Kia Boys” or juvenile shootings, Mayor Malik Evans often says the city must find a way to redirect misguided youth toward more meaningful activities and that R-Centers offer a prime opportunity to do so.

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Evans increased the budget for recreation centers next year by nearly $1.75 million, funneling more funds for staff, expanding the centers’ summer hours and making available new wellness resources, such as licensed therapists, that can be utilized by families at no cost.

“We want our youth to be so busy that they don’t have the time or energy to get themselves in trouble,” he said last month.

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But Eric Kittles, manager of the David F. Gantt R-Center, said programming alone is not enough, rather its the relationships that come out of these activities that benefit youth the most.

“Violence is changed by mentality,” he said. “So, once they’re here, and we can have conversations with them and engage them on a variety of different levels ― whether it’s physical, whether it’s academic, whether it’s just having a short conversation just talking ― those things build then a mentality to change. To want to do something different. To want to connect. I actually see the light at the end of the tunnel. If you change mentality, then you change behavior.”

Kittles said the goal is to provide structure and friendship, allowing participants to simply “navigate who they are.”

What’s inside Rochester’s R-Centers? We visited three programs to find out.

Carter Street R-Center

The splash pad at Carter Street R-Center was the most popular choice among participants as temperatures broached 80 degrees on a recent Tuesday.

But a group of youngsters, ages 3 to 10, braved the sun in favor of a soccer program across the field, run by Coach Herman “Eski” Escalante, a former professional soccer player from El Salvador.

The kids took turns dribbling a ball between orange athletic cones, stopping just short of a small goal to kick and ― SCORE.

Escalante, who has run the program as a volunteer for nearly three decades, said he is unable to coordinate formal games against other teams. But that doesn’t stop about two or three dozen young people from showing up, week after week, even in the heat.

For him, it’s a powerful demonstration of just why programs like these are important in Rochester.

“We need this in the community, especially with the violence,” Escalante said. “A safe place where kids can come and play the game they love, with support and discipline.”

That discipline comes through a lesson about respect: Respecting your parents. Respecting your education. And respecting yourself.

Older participants ― Escalante also runs a program for 11- to 18-year-olds ― are required to submit regular report cards. If the coach sees their grades slipping, or hears about trouble at school or home, he tells them to sit aside for practice.

Soccer is a privilege.

“I always tell them, ‘My goal is not for you to become a pro soccer player. It’s to become a pro in life in whatever you want to be,’” Escalante said. “To be someone in life. To be a great member of your community.”

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Joseph Reed, a recreation specialist at Carter Street, said over time R-Centers start to function like a family. Older kids take younger ones under their wing; recreation staff watch as kindergartners grow into high school graduates.

“We can offer positivity and be the role models that kids sometimes don’t have,” he said.

Edgerton R-Center

Across town, in the basement of Edgerton R-Center, 6-year-old Isaac learns all about the inner workings of a model railroad track built there decades prior.

Isaac isn’t quite sure he knows a lot about trains in general ― but he knows a lot about “these trains,” he said. Like which trolley hops between two of the four seasonal exhibits, instead of staying in a single layout like the rest ― or where each crawl space beneath the foundation of the railroad track leads.

Each week he practices running the trains using a controller that looks somewhat like a television remote, under the watchful eye of volunteers like curator Lee Wood.

Wood said the train room was the brainchild of police officers in the 1950s, designed to give kids a fun project to work on and thereby keep them out of trouble.

Decades later, it’s only open on a limited basis, but children and families can still visit the train room for free on the last Saturday of each month. And those wanting a little more time with the exhibit, like Isaac, can join the Edgerton Model Railroad Club, a group that meets weekly to maintain the train room. Many volunteers are parents with children.

“We’re just people who love trains,” Wood said.

David F. Gantt R-Center

Lundon Knight feels a similar drive to give back to a hobby he loves ― although his hobby of choice is dance.

So, he and Jamarus Williams started a step team at the David F. Gantt R-Center last fall to provide teenagers like Kamorha Mimms the same healthy foundation they found in dancing growing up.

Step team gives young people a way to stay active while building up their confidence, Knight said.

“Dance for me was a huge impact,” he said. “I needed an escape mechanism, something that was positive when I was going through what I would go through in daily life.”

That positivity is a core theme for the group, instilled through verbal affirmations that they are beautiful, that they are capable, that they’re hard workers.

There is an emphasis on fun, too.

Practice is filled with the sass of teenage girls teasing each other one minute, then hyping one another up the next. The coaches even choregraphed a routine for a handful of mothers who showed up to practice, incorporating them in the team’s recent showcase.

“It’s about letting (these girls) know: You have something other than what some of the world has to offer. Because it can be a little negative out there,” Knight said.

How do R-Centers in Rochester work?

Rochester families can register to become R-Center members online. Membership is free and works across all 11 locations. Transportation is not provided, but summer programming includes free lunch for youth.

All R-Centers are open this summer Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. The five recreation centers marked with an asterisk below are also open Saturday from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

A full list of activities is available in the city’s summer programming guide.

And the centers are not just open for youth ― adults can also sign up.

Find an R-Center near you

• *Adams Street R-Center: 85 Adams St.

• Avenue D R-Center: 200 Ave. D

• Tyshaun Cauldwell R-Center: 524 Campbell St.

• Carter Street R-Center: 500 Carter St.

• *Trenton and Pamela Jackson R-Center: 485 N. Clinton Ave.

• *David F. Gantt R-Center: 700 North St.

• Edgerton R-Center: 41 Backus St.

• *Willie Walker Lightfoot R-Center for Equity & Justice: 271 Flint St.

• Roxie Ann Sinkler R-Center: 75 Grover St.

• Frederick Douglass R-Center: 999 South Ave.

• *Thomas P. Ryan R-Center: 530 Webster Ave.

Kayla Canne reports on community justice and safety efforts for the Democrat and Chronicle. Get in touch at kcanne@gannett.com or on Twitter @kaylacanne.

This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Take a peek inside recreation centers in Rochester NY