It was a proud moment today for the Belize City Council and the Pickstock community, as they officially cut the ribbon on a space that’s already been making a difference. After three years of quietly serving the neighborhood, the Hope Resource Center now boasts a brand-new, fully furnished Youth Hub, thanks to a recent investment by the Council and Area Representative Anthony Mahler. The upgraded facility is all about empowering young people and supporting the community. Our team was there for the official opening, here’s more from that event.
Bernard Wagner, Mayor, Belize City
“This is opened from one until seven. And then on Saturday from nine until two. We have a house tutor that assist the kids with home work, mentoring, if you may want to write a resume together. So it serving school and out school. For this facility it is about twenty. At the downtown city hall it is approximately fifty, any student at any level and it is a strategic area given that it serves Lake I, Pickstock, we though that this is strategic area. But we want to expand our broader pan of driving youth development and provide he spaces they can learn in a nice environment.”
Paul Lopez
“Where did funding come from?”
Bernard Wagner
“It came from the Belize City Council. We passed that through our caucus. But it is a partnership with the Change Agents who manage the Hope Center and we facilitated the rehabilitation of the space, ensuring you can see a perimeter fence. We had to demolish the existing bathroom, put in a new bathroom, rehabilitation on the roof and then we had to purchase the computers, the most significant cost in acquiring computers. It ran us about forty thousand to purchase the computers. Those are desktop computers.”
Anthony Mahler, Area Representative, Pickstock
“I truly believe that if a large portion of the people who graduate from primary school don’t graduate from high school then to compete as a nation in this digital age we will struggle. I truly believe that when many of the kids get home they don’t have the necessary support at home. So I think after school programs like this will definitely help our young people in terms of staying in school and advancing in their education. Education does not guarantee anything but it is a crucial part for us to be able to compete as human being. We are doing a full assessment of the country and we will have a discussion on how much it will cost to roll out these in strategic locations. It has to be feasible. This is a social program. So whatever money comes to support it we will ensure it is there.”