GUNTERSVILLE, Ala. — Local children, program staff and concerned parents flooded Guntersville's municipal building to appeal the city council's unanimous decision to close the Lakeview community's center for at-risk kids. The vote originally happened at the start of the month, and it should take effect by the new year.
The Clain Court Youth Leadership Center has been in the Lakeview community for 17 years. The Guntersville Parks and Recreation authority, which manages and funds the site, has concerns about funding for the location.
But the center's program director, Kent Looney, said they never run out of kids to help.
"Some of them do not have the transportation to get them back and forth from after-school programs," Looney said. "And this is a safe place for them.
"This is in their community. The bus drops them off here. It makes it so convenient for the parents to have them here," he said.
And when mom or dad works all day, the kids need somewhere to go, too. Looney said the center provides all of that, free of charge, for the children and their families.
"We take and have the kids," he said. "We give them a hot meal every day, and help them with their homework, and take and have activities for them for a couple of hours after school."
And that was the case for Unique Dunston, a former student at the center. But now that she sees the positive effects it's had on the children, she said it's important to fight for it to stay open in the community.
"My success, I attribute a lot of it to the youth center here in Guntersville," Dunston said. "We showed up tonight in the hopes to convince the city council to take a revote to reconsider their decision to close the center."
From among Lakeview community center's kids and staff, Looney said they're hopeful that it will remain open.
"Take and look at what's best for the kids. And I think if they do that, they'll keep it open," Looney said.
Guntersville's District 1 city councilman, Sanchez Watkins, declined to comment on the closure during the council meeting tonight. But in a press release, the City of Guntersville primarily attributed the closure to "financial responsibility." It is uncertain whether or not the city council will open the vote back up for deliberation.