Santa Clarita / Antelope Valley : Community Devotes Itself to New Center : Newhall: Free education and recreation programs are envisioned. The incomplete facility will open Saturday.

SANTA CLARITA —  Volunteering merchants and residents have joined city officials in a 7,200-square-foot leap of faith that will be launched Saturday.

It is the 7 p.m. opening of a community center at 24406 San Fernando Road in Newhall, which will include a boxing exhibition, ballet program and peek at a facility that officials admit is still a work in progress.

“There’s still going to be construction going on; the restrooms won’t be finished,” said Chris Daste, city recreation supervisor. “We want people to see it from the beginning.”

The community center is envisioned as a place where various recreational and educational programs will be offered to local residents at little or no cost.

“I think the people in downtown Newhall have been asking for help for a long time,” said Santa Clarita Mayor George Pederson. “This is also a step in the direction of revitalizing East and downtown Newhall.”

Downtown Newhall consists of some the city’s oldest businesses, while East Newhall is a mostly Latino, blue-collar neighborhood of small houses and apartment complexes.

As envisioned, the community center and its free activities are a striking contrast to the many once-free public services that have either disappeared or for which the city has begun charging fees.

“The success of it is going to depend on the response we get,” Daste said. “Through any of our public participation programs over the past four years, what has come up is the community wants a community center.”

Organizers have arranged an initial boxing program for youths and hope to offer an array of activities in the future. Aerobic, dance, music, language, parenting, peer counseling, interviewing and sex education classes are among future activities suggested.

The community center includes a storefront office for the Santa Clarita Valley Station of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

“I really think there is a lot of good that can come out of (the community center),” said Mark Lenenberg, a merchant who has donated time and products for the center’s opening. “I’m hoping for this to unite everybody, to bring all cultures together.”

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Several residents and merchants have offered support for the facility, and organizers say it is volunteerism that will make the center a success. Specifically, the center needs people willing to donate their time and skills to teach classes or conduct other programs there.

“The key to it is going to be the volunteer work,” said Maria Fulkerson, a member of United Mothers of Santa Clarita--a Newhall-based citizens group that has supported the center. “That means members of the community helping other members.”

Senior citizens may be an excellent resource for volunteer instructors, making the center a good venue for youths and seniors to interact, as well, Fulkerson said.

“Eventually, we’d like to see it be an intergenerational community center,” Fulkerson said.

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