Flash back to 1851 Chinatown ”“ a gritty Five Points neighborhood dramatically depicted in Martin Scorsese”™s historical drama “Gangs of New York.”
It was a crass environment crawling with crime where poverty, gambling and raucous riots were the everyday norm.
This was the year The New York Juvenile Asylum received its charter after a group of philanthropists recognized the need to get homeless immigrant youth off of the streets.
In 1854 and for $33,000, the founders bought property in Washington Heights that in 1876 became the first racially integrated residential program on Manhattan Island.
Fast forward 162 years and the modern-day juvenile asylum, now Children”™s Village in Dobbs Ferry, encompasses 180 bucolic acres just steps from the Hudson River.
The programs have expanded, but the mission remains the same.
“We have a firm belief that programs don”™t bring kids out of poverty,” said Jeremy Kohomban, president and CEO. “It”™s the exposure to opportunity and their personal choices. When my boys go home and they can”™t figure out a way to stay engaged after school, they”™ll be out on the streets causing trouble and getting rearrested.”
The need to expose boys defined by the juvenile justice system and foster care to vocational opportunities was one reason the organization just opened the $13.5 million Lanza Activities Center.
The other was a bit less romantic.
“It was one of those desperation projects,” Kohomban said. “The old building that we had was totally dilapidated and the pool was unusable. It was dark. It was ugly. And on any given school day, we can have as many as 450 boys here in need of a safe space to do good things.”
Kohomban approached Patricia Lanza of Eastchester, a Children”™s Village lead benefactor, who made an initial gift of about $3.2 million.
The members of the board of trustees followed suit and began raising money.
“But with any construction project, you have these cost escalations and every time there was an escalation, Pat would make another contribution and call it a match,” Kohomban said.
The new, 28,000-square-foot activities center was designed for multipurpose use with features ranging from a commercial kitchen to teach boys about the food service industry and a barbershop to prepare them for licensure.
A new pool with Olympic-size lanes and a café with outdoor seating are some of the amenities.
Kohomban said the center will help teach the youth about life choices and wellness.
“At the end of the day, they have to do something useful,” he said. “They”™ve got to become a tax payer and they have to abide by the rules of our society.”
He expressed the grave need for families and mentors from the business world to take a child under their wing and to foster a stable adult relationship with a child who was raised by the social system.
“Kids need to understand that most of us started at the bottom,” he said. “We all have those stories. This is a nation of great opportunity, but you have to work hard.”
