These two development projects align with the Austin Forward. Together. (AFT) quality-of-life plan and its overarching vision for a thriving community. They will help progress AFT’s goals around Youth Empowerment and Austin having healthier and more engaged youth who are able to reach their full potential. More specifically, they will assist in establishing more safe spaces for youth; increasing opportunities for youth engagement and empowerment; and expanding supportive programs for local youth’s social, emotional, and physical well-being.
AFT is a set of goals created by and for the community designed to address 23 strategies with 84 total actions across 7 Issue Areas between 2019 and 2023: Community Narrative, Education, Housing, Youth Empowerment, Economic Development, Public Safety, and Civic Engagement.
NORTH AUSTIN COMMUNITY CENTER
By The Hand Club For Kids broke ground on August 11, 2021 to begin construction on their sixth site in North Austin which will serve 400 kids from kindergarten through twelfth grade. The innovative space will be a 150,000-square-foot professional-level sport, education and wellness facility on a 10-acre campus that will provide the same opportunity for growth, impact and sustainability that their other sites offer. Located on Laramie, it will have outdoor and indoor fields, including Chicago’s only FIFA-regulation turf arena for year-round indoor sports.
THE BY THE HAND CLUB IN NORTH AUSTIN WILL:
- Form a Community Advisory Committee to help ensure the project continues to be what Austin wants and needs
- Offer 100 hours weekly of free activities for youth and adults
- Make scholarships available for after-school services for 400 K-12th grade students
- Professional-level basketball, soccer, baseball, volleyball and futsal camps, leagues and academies available for youth of all ages with fees on a sliding-scale to ensure neighborhood access
- Host the nonprofit Intentional Sports to provide best-in-class sports programs, competitive opportunities, and health and wellness training
- Partner with the Grace and Pace Revise Center to provide education, health, awareness, advocacy and community-linked services to develop individuals’ and families’ capacity to thrive
- Help youth improve their cognitive ability, social interactions, and the likelihood of graduating high school,
just by playing sports*
*Maslen, P. (2015, December 29). The Social and Academic Benefits of Team Sports. Edutopia.
BUILD THE FUTURE
BUILD’s Iris Community Garden will remain untouched, more parking will be added, and other land surrounding the new buildings will be turned into greenspace and playfields.
BUILD THE FUTURE is a bold $24 million campaign to invest in Austin youth with a full city-block campus, featuring 51,000 sq feet of new and renovated space surrounded by green playfields and gardens.
“Our youth have to be cultivated as leaders. We often say they’re the future but they’re the right now.” says Bradly Johnson, Director of External Affairs at BUILD, Inc. and Chair of the Public Safety Task Force for the Austin Forward. Together. quality-of-life plan.
This welcoming and supportive safe space will dramatically expand BUILD’s services and capacity, allowing them to open more widely to the community. Located at Harrison and Laramie at Austin’s Southern Gateway, the transformed campus will stand for growth, opportunity, joy, and every child’s right to grow up and achieve their potential. BUILD (Broader Urban Involvement & Leadership Development) is one of Chicago’s leading gang intervention, violence prevention, and youth development organizations. BUILD’s mission is to inspire hope and offer opportunities so youth facing systemic obstacles can achieve positive futures. BUILD offers programs at 15 schools in six Chicago neighborhoods as well as the Cook County Juvenile Temporary Detention Center and BUILD’s Austin campus. BUILD THE FUTURE officially got underway after a groundbreaking event on August 12, 2021.
THE BUILD CAMPUS TRANSFORMATION WILL INCLUDE:
- A Youth Council to help ensure the project continues to be what Austin wants and needs
- Expanded hours and days to grow capacity from 100 to 2,000
- Full-sized, climate controlled gym, track, and fitness center
- Art studios and classrooms, galleries, performance spaces, and fully- equipped recording studio
- Makers lab, woodshop, and computing center, all hosting new workforce programs
- Youth lounges and homework spaces
- Mental health center will offer expanded services to youth and their families
- Public cafe and community garden
- New greenspace, playfield, and outdoor community event space
- A home for the Austin Peace and Justice Center (APJC) that will further the restorative justice goals of the Austin Forward. Together. quality-of-life plan
Read more about what’s happening in Austin:
- ‘It all starts with our youth’ by Darnell Shields, ACT Executive Director (published in October 2021)
- Bringing Austin’s vision to life: How the community is leading its own change (published in October 2021)
- Austin’s path to revitalization (published in July 2021)
- Leading to this moment in Austin: A timeline (published in July 2021)
- ‘A path to health equity’ by Darnell Shields, ACT Executive Director (published in April 2021)
- ACT awards over $184k to support AFT plan implementation year three (published in April 2021)
- Food apartheid: How Austin is recreating its food ecosystem through the Austin Eats Initiative (published in April 2021)
- ACT’s COVID-19 recovery efforts
- ‘An unwavering commitment’ by Darnell Shields, ACT Executive Director (published in Dec 2020)
- Distanced and disconnected: How COVID-19 has widened the digital divide and how ACT is working to address it (published in Dec 2020)
- An introduction to Austin’s quality-of-life plan called ‘Austin Forward. Together.’ (AFT)
- 2020 Highlights from the ‘Austin Forward. Together.’ plan
- The ASPIRE Initiative set of development projects near Madison and Central in Austin
