Youth Center headed for revamp

Kahnawake might be just a few years away from seeing the construction of a brand new Kahnawake Youth Center (KYC), outfitted with facilities that many in the community have been dreaming of for years.

Staff at KYC have been conducting research and consultations in the community for more than a year, gathering data on what kinds of additions Kahnawa’kehró:non would like to see in a new building. This week, they released a preliminary vision for the new KYC, with an indoor pool, a synthetic turf field house, a coffee bar, and a teen zone being just some of the potential new spaces on the horizon.

“We’ve outgrown our current facility. We have programs on top of programs. We have pickleball, for example, sharing gym space with fitness classes, and every program is just on top of each other,” said KYC executive director Kyle Zacharie.

Space has been an obstacle at every turn, Zacharie said. Take the KYC’s after school program, which runs for 10 months of the year. While that’s in session, the entire building is full from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m., meaning there’s no room for teenagers to come in by themselves and use the facilities. The staff can’t run any other fitness classes for others, because there’s nowhere else for those individuals to go.

By noon daily, it can be hard to even get into KYC.

“Good luck trying to find parking,” Zacharie said.

The weight room at KYC is a huge hit, but that also means it can be cramped and crowded, with long lines to use the machines. Over the last few years, the KYC’s summer camps have grown from accommodating 80 children to more than 200 - the organization has to rent out space at Kateri School to be able to run some of their programs, and they rent out two-thirds of the building at Kateri Hall to be able to run more programming.

With a growing awareness of these limitations, KYC launched a number of research initiatives, gathering data from almost 400 participants in a recreation survey, and conducting sessions with local sports associations, instructors, and staff, asking them what they’d like to have access to in an ideal iteration of the KYC.

“Everything that’s written in what our future youth centre could look like really did come from the community itself or from our stakeholders, we’re trying to build a facility that will meet the needs of the entire community,” Zacharie said.

The plan for the future KYC is split into six sections: the aquatic sector, the sports sector, the field house, the community sector, the admin sector, and common spaces. All plans for each section are tentative and preliminary and are subject to change based on feasibility studies and funding.

The aquatic additions would include an indoor L-shaped pool with an accessibility ramp and three 25-metre lanes, the bottom of the “L” featuring a recreation section with a rope swing, ninja course, and climbing wall that hangs over the water. There’s also the possibility for a 15-foot water slide and a hot tub.

It’ll mean the KYC could offer swimming lessons and fill an often talked about need in the community for a new local pool.

“It’s really something that’s been missing from the community for some time,” Zacharie said.

In terms of the sports additions, the new centre would feature a weight room two-and-a-half times the size of the current one, with plans to include additional machines, reducing wait times for participants. Also in the works is a double gymnasium complete with bleachers that can fit 250 people, as well as three new studios, two reserved for fitness classes and one dojo-style studio for combat sports like wrestling.

“We have wrestling and kickboxing, and they’d want to come in here five or six times a week if we had the time to give it to them, and we don’t have the time because of our other programs,” Zacharie said. “Now we’d be able to have a fitness studio for combat sports, and it might have a mat floor, and mat walls, and it’ll alleviate the strain on the gymnasium.”

An elevated walking and running track is also being considered, and over in the field house section, there’s plans for a synthetic turf equivalent to the size of an NLL rink to be installed, which would give room for lacrosse, soccer and football, and archery. It might also feature a batting cage and will have bleachers that can seat 300.

It’s also a priority to include more supports for non-sport related activities at the KYC, and plans would also include an art room with 20 work stations, a multipurpose room with large capacity, potentially including a stage and audiovisual resources, and a “child watch” area, so that parents can leave their children with dedicated supervisors during their workouts.

There’s also plans for a teen zone with a kitchenette, a pool table, and a games room.

“The teen zone for us is probably one of the most important parts of the facility. It’ll give them a space, and teenagers will have their own separate entrance to it. It’ll be designed by them, for them,” Zacharie said.

It’s not just those who use the KYC that need more space. Staff do, too, and that’s why the new plans would include more office spaces, collaboration stations, and a conference room. Those would be in tandem with common space plans, which feature a community lounge and coffee bar as well as a reception and additional parking.

Much of those ideas come from tours Zacharie and his team have undertaken in other local communities, including in Denver, Colorado, New York City, and in southern Ontario.

“The entire facility itself becomes a hub, and that’s really the kind of environment we want to create,” Zacharie said.

It’s still going to be a long time before these plans come to fruition - Zacharie said the team is looking in the neighbourhood of three to five years, depending on various factors, including new locations for the facilities, which is an aspect yet to be determined.

The next step is working with consultants to build detailed site plans, which would include 3D renderings and estimated construction costs. It’s anticipated those plans would be ready by the end of the summer, and once those are locked-in, the KYC can start identifying potential funding sources for the youth centre of Kahnawake’s dreams.

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