CINCINNATI — As the sun touches the horizon, the teens at Lincoln Recreation Center are soaking in the final moments of their summer.
“Best time of my life,” said Jeremiah, who is about to enter ninth grade. “I ain’t never had this much fun in my life.”
He is among the 180 teens who Cincinnati Recreation Commission leaders say have shown up each week to their “Rec @ Nite” program since it began 10 weeks ago. That’s in addition to the 90+ who routinely show up to the same programming happening at Hirsch Recreation Center.
“It speaks for itself,” said Brandi Sanders, division manager of recreation operations. “As long as you have a consistent group of people, who are willing and their heart is in it to redirect [teens], it’s gonna be successful.”
In the spring, the goal was simple: give kids a place to go on Saturday nights in the summer. Sanders said with malls, movie theaters and amusement parks all holding their own chaperone policies, there’s very few places where kids can hang out.
“Adults misconstrued what a safe place looks like,” she said. “It’s not a structured building. It’s not a facility. It’s the people, and it’s consistency for teenagers.”
Sanders credits the many adults who put the 8-hour event on every week. The teens recognize the familiar faces..
“We’re getting to build relationships and friendships with the kids, and they know we’re going to correct them when they’re wrong, but we don’t hold grudges,” she said.
“It’s okay, you messed up last week, but come on back this week, and let’s try again,” Sanders said.
At a city council committee meeting Wednesday, Cincinnati Police Chief Teresa Theetge said she was pleasantly surprised at the number of attendees.
“Keeping them busy is always a good thing,” Theetge told reporters after the meeting. “But the other piece is having some of the partners there with us to engage with the kids.”
“That might make the difference in what they choose to do,” the chief said.
Vice Mayor Jan-Michele Lemon Kearney said she was looking at ways to keep the program going.
The event has food, haircuts, art projects, swimming, basketball, boat racing and more.
It also has featured community partners like Rufus Johnson, who brings his Safety First Bus Tour.
Inside, he’s using a fake gun to teach a lesson. While he stresses if teens come across a gun to not touch it, he also shows how to properly handle it if they must.
“Our kids have accessibility to guns, that's the reality,” he said. “Prevention and education is–how do we educate them on the right things to do when they come across a firearm?”
Each teen leaves with a gun safety lock to give to their parents. He said each gun owner needs to take responsibility for not allowing their firearm to enter the wrong hands.
Johnson said most of the teens he interacts with are educated about the dangers of guns: “That’s my job, to make sure the message stays there.”
As the “Rec at Nite” program comes to an end with the start of the school year, CRC said they are already planning on applying the lessons they’ve learned about how to best engage teens to fall programming.
“We did it,” Sanders said. “Rec at Nite is here to stay.”
