The City of Santa Clarita will celebrate the grand opening of the new Canyon Country Community Center on Saturday, January 12, 2013 at 10 a.m.  The new Center is located at 18792 Flying Tiger Road, at the intersection of Sierra Highway and Flying Tiger Road in Canyon Country.

The Santa Clarita City Council invites community members to attend the grand opening event and tour the new facility, which will be open six days a week.  As part of the grand opening festivities, children will be invited to help create a custom art piece that will be featured in the new Center.

The new Community Center features a hybrid of recreational and intergenerational programming in both a traditional and non-traditional setting for children, teens, parents, and seniors.  It also includes a diverse array of programs and opportunities in and around the Center, thanks to partnerships with local organizations, agencies and volunteers.  Some of these are: after-school homework assistance, exercise classes, workshops and ESL classes through the Granada Villa Neighborhood Committee; volunteers helping school-aged youth with their homework and reading a few days a week during after-school hours through the Neighborhood Homework Help Program; and free workshops like art, computer, cooking, music, and journalism classes through the NOMAD LAB Youth Art Program.

Additionally, the Canyon Country Community Center will serve as a meeting place and resource for other partnering agencies and programs, including: Parents on a Mission, which is an anti-gang program that provides resources to parents so that they can help their children avoid gangs. ACTION Support Group for teens and their families; and the new partner program, Friday Night Lights, which will provide junior high age teens with a variety of recreational opportunities at various parks and facilities on the first Friday of the month.

“The City’s goal with the new Center is to positively impact social issues, resulting in a lower crime rate and a more productive, healthy and engaged community,” commented Mayor Bob Kellar.

“One of the hallmarks of the City of Santa Clarita is our commitment to work with our community to learn their ideas and desires for services prior to implementing something new.  This initial input phase was created early in the process to assure that the new Canyon Country Community Center provides programs and activities the community wants,” added Kellar.

In meeting with area residents and businesses, the City learned that youth, parents and seniors wanted to see more recreation, educational, and community service programming near their homes. This information led to City staff reaching out to area stakeholders to discuss partnering to provide more services.

Thanks to community feedback, the new Canyon Country Community Center will be structured to serve as a “hub” for programs and services to area residents.  The Canyon Country Community Center is designed to provide core programming, activities, and be a resource to Canyon Country residents. Activities at the Center will focus on after school and enrichment programs, “Healthy Santa Clarita” activities, senior programming, and classes for parents with children ages one to five.

To learn more about what is happening at the Canyon Country Community Center, please logo on to www.santa-clarita.com/cccc.