A large turnout wasn't expected for the first weekend of late nights, organizers said, as they did not have time to publicize the extended hours. The director of St. Louis' Office of Violence Prevention described the weekend as successful.
"The mayor, along with our partners, got together and said we wanted to respond to the challenges facing our youth and create safe spaces," Wilford Pinkney, the director, said at a Monday news conference. "And we did that."
The Dunn-Marquette Recreation Center in south St. Louis and Wohl Recreation Center in north St. Louis usually close between 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays, but Mayor Tishaura O. Jones extended their hours to 1 a.m. following a shooting that left one teen dead and 11 injured earlier this month.
Around 50 youth, Pinkney said, stopped by the rec centers over the weekend.
Zenique Gardner Perry, a project director for the St. Louis Area Violence Prevention Commission, which worked with the city to put together activities like dance lessons and DJs at the centers, said she hopes attendance will grow.
The commission wants to work with the city to improve street lighting at the Marquette center in Dutchtown, Gardner Perry said. It's also looking at providing the teens transportation and beefing up security with more guards and cameras at the centers.
To reach teens, Gardner Perry said the commission plans to work with promoters and partner with young people popular on social media.
It also plans to leave flyers at people's doors and connect with grandparents at churches, in hopes they can pass along the message to teens, she said.
"Something that we think is really important is not just depending on social media to be the main communicator of what's happening in the community," Gardner Perry said.
Pinkney said the goal of the program was "never to say that every kid is going to show up at the rec centers." But, he said, the program can attract some youths who are at risk of being involved in violence.
Gardner Perry said the commission wants the city's rec centers to serve as a place for all young people.
"We want them to know that they can come to the rec centers, whether they are young people who are coming from two-parent households or they're young people who would otherwise be carrying guns in the street," she said.
Gardner Perry said preventing crime requires more than just rec centers.
"It takes a community who believes in different tactics and engagement, and being willing to volunteer, being willing to be present, being willing to just invest in the community doing what's right for our young people," she said.
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