Flushing YMCA Beacon Center - a safe haven for kids

For the last 15 years, the Flushing YMCA Beacon Center at J.H.S. 189 has been a safe place where children can go take part in a variety of activities and learn skills that will help them in the future.
The initiative to create Beacon Centers was started by Mayor David Dinkins. When they were first opened in 1993, there were 10. Now, there are close to 80 Beacon Centers throughout the city.
“Basically what he was trying to do was get New York City kids off of the streets and in a safe haven,” said Flushing YMCA Beacon Center Director Jeannie Velez.
The minimum amount of community members being served by the Beacon Center in Flushing is 1,200 youth and 150 adults. The primary focus is on middle school children.
Opened six days a week year round, the center provides a variety of free programming. The programs include study hall, life skills, computers, dance, martial arts, arts and crafts, various sports, ESL, youth and government, and drama. Through its “Creative Careers” program, the center helps educate students about potential careers. Two of the most popular programs offered are tennis in the summer and a Junior Knicks Basketball League, where the children play against each other on teams and take part in a championship.
The Beacon Center, which is an off-site of the Flushing YMCA, also provides counseling services.
Velez said that her goals for the center’s participants are for them to have the opportunities to succeed in life, have personal development, become active in the community and be prepared for the future. The center’s Assistant Director, Michael Garcia, added that they help develop leadership skills and teach the children about professionalism.
As children participate in the program, Velez and Garcia said that they have seen many changes for the better. Among these are developing connections with the staff members and becoming peer leaders.
Flushing resident Steven Talero, 11, first came to the Beacon Center three years ago after a friend told him about it. He said that he gets to take part in many activities, gets help with his homework and problems that he might have, and has made many new friends. Talero also said that the center has made sure that he is not getting “influenced in a bad way” and it is safer for him to be there rather than on the streets.
“It’s like they’re my family,” said Talero, who was the member of the month for January. “It’s like a home away from home.”
Velez said that, for her, the most rewarding part is working with people who are “committed to developing the lives of young people” and seeing what has become of the children when they come back to visit.
“It’s truly, I think, a beacon,” she said. “I feel safe here, I enjoy coming in here, and I feel very welcomed here.”
Garcia said that he finds it rewarding to work with the children and see how much the center means to them. He also enjoys being a role model for them.
On February 7, from 6:30 p.m. to 9 p.m., the center will be the site for the kick-off of the YMCA Strong Kids Campaign in Flushing. The campaign assists in raising funds that go towards providing programming.
Registration for the next session at the Beacon Center will be from March 15 to March 21.
The Flushing YMCA Beacon Center at J.H.S. 189 is located at 144-80 Barclay Avenue, Room 130. It is open Monday to Wednesday from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m., Thursday and Friday from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m. and Saturday 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. For more information, call 718-961-6014.
The Flushing YMCA is located at 138-46 Northern Boulevard. Through February 4, it is waiving its initiation fee.