Director seeks resurgence for North Side youth center

YOUNGSTOWN — Those running the Buckeye Elks Youth Center are looking for the money, human resources and young people needed to restore the facility to the strong community force it once was.

The Buckeye Elks Youth Center has been a fixture on the city’s North Side for more than 35 years. Buckeye Elks Lodge No. 73 started a fund-raising campaign for the facility in 1970 and began building the structure in 1971.

About 2,000 people from the surrounding community toured the Youth Development Center during an open house in January 1973. At that time the center cost about $500,000 to build.

Willie McKinney, longtime Buckeye Elks member and acting director of the youth center, said that when the building first went up, houses occupied by young people and seniors lined the streets all around the North Avenue facility.

“That was the purpose, to give the youth and seniors a nice place to go in the community,” he said. “I would say we averaged about 250 people a week coming through the center then. Now, we just don’t have that many coming in.”

It was in those early days when young people from the surrounding community flocked to the center for recreation and learning opportunities. The center offered a list of programs such as after-school activities, medical programs and day care. There were also football, basketball and baseball teams as well as boxing lessons.

The center also offered scholarships, banquets and exercise programs for adults.

McKinney said a shrinking population, lack of financial support and mismanagement over the years caused the center to see a steady decline. The center closed for 11 months between 2003 and 2004.

Read the full story Monday in The Vindicator and on Vindy.com.