Community Board 11 members and attendees said the district needs more youth engagement programs and an accessible community center to provide free or low-cost activities, workforce pathways and civic education for young people.

Several speakers described youth-programming and community-center requests as recurring topics, and they argued such investments help retain families and prepare young people for future careers. Participants suggested partnerships with education and community-service agencies and recommended designing programs that teach skills relevant to a changing labor market.

Board members discussed incorporating youth-program priorities into the proposed neighborhood study and suggested using fellowship or graduate-studio partnerships to develop program ideas, budgets and operating models. They also noted that a community center should be easy to reach by public transit and offer activities aligned to local needs (after-school programs, technology and career-readiness workshops).

Ending: The committee asked staff to record youth-program requests as part of the neighborhood-study inputs and to explore potential partners for programming and facility support.