Federal officials joined Maryland and county politicians as well as local leaders in Greenbelt on Monday, March 9 to announce more than $1.8 million in federal funding for youth recreation projects, including repairs to the Greenbelt Youth Center and improvements to the Springhill Lake Recreation Center.
The funding, secured through congressionally directed spending, will support two projects intended to expand youth programming and improve recreation facilities across the city.
Mayor Emmett Jordan said the investments will address long-standing needs for recreation infrastructure and secure healthy environments for the youth.
“These dollars did not arrive here by chance,” Jordan said. “They arrived because you showed up for Greenbelt and you fought for our community in Washington and delivered.”
The funding package includes $1.5 million to replace the roof at the Youth Center and $250,000 for programming expansions and improvements at the Springhill Lake Recreation Center. Jordan said the project’s focus is on supporting young residents and strengthening community resources.
U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) said the funding reflects cooperation among Maryland’s federal delegation and local leaders and the projects were selected because of their impact on youth programs in the community. “But the theme here, of course, are these young people,” Van Hollen said. “And we want to just really thank you all.”
U.S. Senator Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.) said recreation facilities provide essential benefits for children and families.
“A community recreation center is beneficial to the entire community,” Alsobrooks said. “Our children, however, do gain the greatest benefits from these investments because they provide outlets also for extracurricular activities.” She added that the roof replacement will allow the Youth Center to continue hosting programs such as summer camps, preschool programs and youth clubs.
Local recreation staff said the improvements could also expand services for children with special needs.
“It means so much because now we’re able to pour even more into the kids here,” said Madison Telfer, an inclusion assistant manager at the Recreation Center. “We were so limited with the ways that we were able to accommodate some, especially with the kids with autism and ADHD.”
Luis Sandoval, an inclusion counselor center leader, has been involved with Springhill Lake Recreation Center since 2007, when he attended it as a child, and is passionate about providing a positive influence on the children. “We get influenced, especially the youth, by social media. With that type of power, you get influenced in a bad way. So, us getting funding like this, and having programs where we can talk about mental health, proper hygiene, and stuff like that,” said Sandoval.
Carolyn Lambright-Davis has been volunteering for the CHesapeake Education, Arts and Research Society (CHEARS) for about nine years and is the coordinator of the Earth Squad. Earth Squad participants learn about sustainability by designing, planting, harvesting and eating the crops they grow. She mentors “citizen scientists.”
Lambright-Davis disagrees with details of the disbursement of funding but is hopeful the money will help fix and maintain the Earth Squad’s meeting space at the Springhill Lake Recreation Center. “I do not like the equity of the disbursement of [funding],” said Lambright-Davis.
City officials said the improvements are expected to help the recreation system keep pace with population growth in Greenbelt and surrounding neighborhoods.
Laura Charleston is a University of Maryland student at the Philip Merrill College of Journalism interning with the Greenbelt News Review.
