Commission reviews McFadden/Macbeth cooperative schedule with Boys & Girls Club and hears call to serve underserved neighborhoods

Commission staff and program leaders detailed a cooperative schedule at McFadden Community Center that the Parks and Recreation Department runs jointly with the Boys & Girls Club.

Terry Wallis, identified in the meeting as coach and large coordinator, described a daily after-school schedule running from roughly 2 p.m. to 9 p.m. during the school year (10 a.m.–9 p.m. during summer and holidays). Programming includes a “Power Hour” homework slot, life-skills and safety instruction, drop-in game-room time, organized sports (soccer practice and flag football), and teen and adult gym time in the evenings. Boys & Girls Club members use a membership check-in; Parks and Recreation staff maintain sign-in records for neighborhood drop-in users. Wallis said the cooperation allows shared programming rather than strict division of space and that weekend and holiday hours follow a different schedule.

Commissioners pressed staff for participation data. Terry Wallis said membership numbers and daily check-in data are tracked by the Boys & Girls Club, and Parks and Recreation is compiling more detailed attendance information to present at a future meeting. Staff acknowledged they do not currently maintain a complete emergency-contact roster for every drop-in participant, but said permission forms and contact information are collected for children who accompany the center on field trips.

During public comment, Chaplain Herbert Turner urged the commission and staff to “serve the underserved in of this community and provide for them so that we can keep them out of the courts,” and asked the department to prioritize programming during the national Crime Prevention Month and support Rutherford Youth Action League activities. Staff and commissioners acknowledged capacity limits — citing saturated facility usage and staffing constraints — but said they would look for ways to coordinate with other agencies and transport children from underserved neighborhoods to existing centers and programs.

Commissioners asked staff to provide quarterly statistics and a breakdown of hours and membership data for McFadden and other centers at the next meeting, per the cooperative agreement requirement.