A safe haven

Jenny Marder

Angel Nieves, 8, peeked over the counter, where Albert Barcenas, a

recreation leader at the Oak View Community Center, was working.

“I want a basketball,” Angel said.

Barcenas handed him a basketball.

“No,” he said, “I want my basketball.”

Barcenas smiled and pulled a much smaller black ball from under

the counter. Angel grabbed the ball and scampered outside toward the

court where his friends were already absorbed by their game.

The Oak View Community Center, an after-school program that

provides sports and recreation activities for at-risk youth, will

change hands on May 1 when the city gives control to the Children’s

Bureau, a nonprofit agency. The City Council unanimously approved a

license agreement with the bureau at its meeting on Monday.

Since the city cut the center’s $140,000 funding in September,

several programs have been eliminated and two full-time staff members

have been replaced by part-time help. But under the new management,

cut programs will return and youth and family programs will expand.

Although the city will no longer fund Oak View, the center will

still receive $51,200 in block grant funding from the city. This

grant will fund youth development programs, after-school activities,

youth sports programs and recreation activities, said Janeen

Laudenback, the city’s acting superintendent of recreation, human and

cultural services.

Additional funding will come from the Orange County Social

Services, United Way, Orange County Community Foundation and

fund-raising efforts.

“The city is very excited,” Laudenback said of the change. “We

think the new partnership will bring more to the community than we’ve

been able to offer.”

The community center is housed in a small structure with a

gymnasium, a game room, an office, a kitchen and several classrooms.

Behind the building are basketball and handball courts, as well as

several athletic fields. The center is open Monday through Saturday

afternoons as an area where students can drop by, play sports and

spend time with friends under adult supervision.

“If there are children in the community whose parents are not

available, this is a place that they can go to,” Laudenback said.

“It’s a safe haven if there’s nobody at home.”

As soon as school lets out, children begin vying for their turn at

the pool table and the courts, and rooms quickly fill with students

of all ages, passing basketballs, slamming handballs against the

walls and just hanging out, Barcenas said.

More than 75 children can be found at the center on a given day.

“They come and play pool, basketball, checkers and chess,”

Barcenas said. “There’s a gang in this neighborhood, and if the kids

aren’t in a safe place, playing sports and games, they could be out

on the streets causing trouble. This lets them come into a positive

place instead.”

Fifth-grade girls cluster together whispering strategies for their

afternoon basketball game and teasing each other about pretend

boyfriends, while the Juniors Girl Scout Troop 2248 is gathered in

the kitchen smearing a homemade beauty, a concoction of milk, orange

juice and witch hazel, across their faces.

Barcenas, 18, who supervises the youngsters and takes care of

problems like bruised knees, broken exit signs and graffiti,

remembers when the center used to offer activities such as flag

football, dance and cooking.

These programs were eliminated last fall, as were the center’s two

full-time staff members.

Donna White, program manager for the Children’s Bureau, wants to

see the center return full throttle to the thriving after-school

haven that it was before the cutbacks.

The center is also looking to combine efforts with the Family

Resource Center, which is also operated by the Children’s Bureau and

located on school grounds.

The Family Resource Center provides a bevy of services for the

community at large including parenting classes, health services,

literacy programs, legal assistance and information on adoption and

foster care. It also offers recreational activities like sewing,

aerobics, arts and crafts, and youth and teen support programs such

as counseling, college preparation and homework assistance.

Since the Oak View area is 99% Latino, all programs are bilingual.

“We don’t want anyone to fall through the cracks,” said Georgia

Edwards, program coordinator of the Family Resource Center.

The city hopes that under new direction the range of after-school

programs will expand and the center will open to more family

services, Laudenback said. Flag football, dance and exercise classes

will be returning next fall, and the center will open during school

hours to hold health education and domestic violence prevention

programs, in-home parenting support classes, literacy classes and

computer programs.

The community center and the resource center are run by a

collaboration of organizations, including Campfire USA, the Ocean

View School District, the Huntington Beach Public Library, Community

Service Programs Inc. and the Interval House.

“Now, with this transition, we will be marrying the two centers,”

White said. “We will be bringing in other family services and we hope

that it will become more of a family center and not just a youth

center.”

The bureau will still work closely with the city.

“It’s just a big team effort, and now everyone’s going to be part

of a bigger team,” Edwards said.

* JENNY MARDER covers City Hall. She can be reached at (714)

965-7173 or by e-mail at [email protected].