The New Asylum Hill Boys & Girls Club on Sigourney Street

A core of Asylum Hill Congregational Church volunteers, chagrined by the notoriety of the neighborhood - drugs, prostitution, shootings - decided to change its reputation and transform the street. They led a five-year effort to raise $7 million to build the Boys and Girls Club, which opened in October 2004.

Where once there stood a vacant abestos-laden brick building, fronting a crack house, now there is hope and the buzz of youthful energy.

Instead of mischief, kids who come to the Boys & Girls Club can fill idle time in a gymnasium, computer lab, game room, or in mentoring sessions, cultural programs or leadership training.

"It's proven that kids who don't have after-school activities, particularly in lower-income neighborhoods, are far more likely to be caught up in all the problems that can happen in low-income neighborhoods," says Lee Allison, a retired corporate executive, Asylum Hill Congregational member and Boys and Girls Club trustee.

As city leaders wring their hands over the persistent episodes of violence among young people, one of the things you notice in the club is that unharnessed energy is expended in productive activities.

The street-smart staff at Asylum Hill doesn't play when it comes to discipline. Unit Director Alonda Simmons has no reservations about snatching a young man's cap off his head while he walks indoors.

"We try to teach them that there are more things that they can find out that they have in common, and that they like about each other," according to Chad Williams, Program Director.

One of the unlikely, but wildly popular activities offered is chess.  And the players are learning life lessons in addition to rules of the game.  States one recent chess game champ, "It's like life.  If you make the wrong choice, you're in trouble."

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