Parks director highlights free teen rec, late-night programs and arts opportunities for Auburn youth

Auburn Parks and Recreation leaders underscored free and low-cost programs they say aim to reduce juvenile misconduct by keeping young people engaged after school.

The parks director described an after-school rec at Les Grove Park — the city’s teen center — that runs from 2:30 to 5 p.m. daily, accepts junior-high-age youth (about up to 15 years old), charges $1 or allows entry if a youth cannot pay, and typically hosts 50 to 80 kids per day. The rec program partners with the school district for afternoon transportation back to neighborhood schools at 5 p.m.

Staff highlighted a long-running late-night program at the community events center that offers low-cost activities and pizza on select Friday nights; the director said youth leadership and supervision have been part of the program’s success. Parks staff also listed youth sports, youth ballet, Little League Soccer and upcoming arts programs at the Postmark Center for the Arts, and said a downtown theater is expected to reopen in about a year and a half.

The parks director framed these offerings as part of a prevention strategy: "If your kids are busy ... they're not getting in trouble," the director said, and added that low-cost programs are "the cheapest form of saving our city from so many of the crimes that we're gonna see." He encouraged residents to refer children to the rec and other programs and said brochures and contact information were available at the meeting.

No funding vote or program changes were proposed at the meeting; staff invited residents to register and learn more through parks materials and district partnerships.