Powderhorn Park offers kids innovative programs and activities

by Stephanie Fox

Kids in the Powderhorn neighborhood of South Minneapolis can't complain that they have nothing to do this summer. There's lots to do, thanks to Al Bangoura, for three years the director of the Powderhorn Park Community Center. Bangoura has brought together experts and artists, part-time employees and volunteers, who are creating programs that keep young people occupied and off what many see as the mean streets of the neighborhood.

The park offers more than the standard gymnasium and playground equipment. Local kids can choose classes in pottery making in a fully equipped pottery studio, while downstairs, photography instruction is available and a darkroom has been set up in what was once a public restroom, with enlargers, pans of photo chemicals and a print dryer. Kids (and with some programs, adults as well) can take lessons in yoga, belly dancing, , pottery, theater, photography and can participate in sports as diverse as golf, wrestling, badminton, baseball, dance and even chess, all offered for a small fee or for no charge.

Also popular is the free community computer lab, run by Elberta Butler, one of only two such labs available in the city's southside community centers. The sign on the door states the rules; no food, no gang affiliation, no horseplay, no profanity—but that doesn't keep the excitement down. Young kids sit in front of the monitors, playing computer games and searching for their favorite music videos, laughing and talking with each other. While, the games and videos draw the kids to the lab, they stay to get help with homework in math, Spanish, English or other subjects. They can even study for their SATs and find information about getting into college.

A small but professionally run recording studio is still being assembled, but it's already got a 16-track board and a digital audio system where kids can record their own songs, burn a CD, then go into the computer lab to create their CD cover on the computer programs PhotoShop and Quark. "If you tell the kids they're going to learn one of these computer programs, then they're not interested. But making a CD cover is exciting and the kids don't even know they're learning computers," Bangoura says. "These are professional programs the kids are learning, and they're going to help them get employment in the future."

Down in the Powderhorn Park basement is a new teen center where kids ages 12 to 18 are welcome. There, a painted mural about life in the city watchs over the young men and women playing pool or just hanging out. Staff members are there also to watch over the teens and to teach some of the basic social skills they may not have picked up at home or school. It is these skills that youth staff members say will help these kids succeed as adults. For fun, the youth center holds an open mike on Fridays and conducts field trips, including chances to learn non-urban skills like fishing and camping.

One of the newest offerings at the center is Phat Summer, a nationwide program administrated at Powderhorn by Courtney Stein, a substitute teacher. The project is a professional restaurant run by the kids. Stein, who is helping the kids put together a Powderhorn restaurant, says the program will at least give her charges a chance to show off to their parents at a special invitation only culinary event. But, if they decide they want to do more work, the restaurant may be open one day a week during the summer. The kids interview for working positions, from host to chef to server to menu and advertising designer, and will be given the responsibility to do their jobs.

As part of the training, Stein's arranged for a working chef from the Loring Park Bar to come to the park and teach Creole cooking. She's also made plans for a field trip to Big E's Soul Food Restaurant (on Eat Street) to see how a real restaurant operates. "This program is not just to keep the kids off the streets for the summer, or to teach them to work in a restaurant." says Stein, "We're teaching them to have a work ethic. That's the real skill they're learning."

Much of the success of the youth programs at Powderhorn is the result of a lot of caring and attention by the staff. Sylvester Jones, known to the kids as “Tight,” is officially the building administrator and gym supervisor. But he’s also an unofficial counselor, confidante and father figure to a lot of the kids. He knows all of the kids, he says, and tries to get to know the kids’ mothers and each family's problems. Originally from Gary, Indiana, Tight spent some time in the penitentiary before straightening out his life. "Some of these kids keep the [negative] attitudes they get from their family," he says. "They have problems with anger management, they want to sell dope—a lot of them get lost in the street. It sucks them in."

"These last few years, it's gotten better for the boys," he insists, "but now, the girls are the biggest problem." They've been growing up faster, dressing and acting differently, he says, "and some want to be gangbangers just like the boys." Tight thinks he can help change that. He wants to put a stop to the cycles of poverty and crime many of these children face and is convinced that the programs offered at Powderhorn can help because, he says, strong adults—people who have been in the same situations these kids are in—get behind the kids and support them.

Stacy Horwitz, the chair of the Powderhorn Park Neighborhood Association as well as a park volunteer, says that funding is the biggest problem facing the park's youth programs. The initial plans for Phat Summer as well as for other programs were cut back and the parks are closed on weekends leaving many kids with nowhere to go. Trickle-down budget cuts have especially affected youth programs, she says. "Anytime you engage youth in positive activities, you keep them away from harmful activities. It's different for a family with more resources who can afford things for their children. For these kids, this is their only choice."

With budget cuts eating into youth programs, the park now relies on fundraising activities, including a July 4th Celebration and the Powderhorn Art Fair, held the first weekend in August, which draws up to 40,000 people. Both are helping fill the financial gap.

"The park once had a lot of resources, but now we're in competition for dollars and have felt the pain like everyone else," says Horwitz. "We're able to carry on because we've been creative and we've got a lot of great volunteers."