A downtown recreation centre offering after-school and summer programs for hundreds of youth in high-priority areas is at risk of closing early next year if they can’t secure more funds, the centre’s executive director says.Lucy Troisi, a former manager in the city’s parks and recreation division and appointed councillor in the previously split Toronto Centre ward, says without at least $350,000 in additional funds the Cabbagetown Youth Centre will be forced to close by March 2020.The centre is now asking the city to step in to help after a substantial provincial grant ran out in March.Councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam (Ward 13 Toronto Centre) has tabled a motion at council, to be considered Wednesday afternoon, asking that city staff evaluate the Cabbagetown Youth Centre’s programming and financial situation immediately.“They’re living on fumes,” said Wong-Tam, who wants staff to assess the situation before council decides if and how to help.The youth centre was founded in 1972 as a boxing club in a vacant downtown east warehouse by Cabbagetown-area police officer Peter Wylie, the Star has reported, who later saw the space as a way to provide direction to at-risk youth. He quit his police job in 1985 to help save the club from financial ruin.Today, the club remains a much expanded youth hub, offering after-school care, sports programs, homework help and summer camps that serve communities beyond Cabbagetown’s borders and as far as Rexdale and Scarborough in the summer months.The two-storey centre contains a boxing ring and facilities, gym, kitchen and playroom. Staff also make use of local schools across the city for the summer camps. Troisi, who shared the centre’s financial information for 2019 and proposed budget for 2020 with the Star, said that the centre has already raided its reserves and is now dipping into a line of credit to keep the centre open. Troisi herself is now a volunteer, having taken herself of ...
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