Boston, MA Urban Edge’s 42nd annual meeting brought together over 300 members of the community to support the organization’s effort to build the Jackson Sq. Recreation Center. Keynote speaker Graeme Townshend, a former professional hockey player who currently teaches at Townshend Hockey Skating Systems, shared his story with the crowd about growing up with a recreation center and the opportunities it provided him.

At the event, Urban Edge announced it was launching a new crowdfunding campaign on DedicatingDollars.com to give everyone an opportunity to donate any dollar amount towards the Jackson Sq. Recreation Center. If you are interested in supporting the center, please go to DedicatingDollars.com and see the Jackson Sq. Recreation Center fundraiser listed on the homepage. The fundraiser can be shared through social media using the hashtag #LetsGetThisBuilt.

 “Like me, Urban Edge has persevered through a lot to make sure that the Jackson Square Recreation Center becomes a reality for this neighborhood,” said former Boston Bruin, Graeme Townshend, who was keynote speaker for the event.  “You guys know the value of sticking with it!  But I think you also know that providing opportunities for young people who need those opportunities – young people like me when I was a teenager – is worth it.  I am proud to be here today supporting this effort, and I am looking forward to coming back to skate on the ice when the center is built.”

 Research shows that a community benefits when young people have access to recreational and afterschool activities.  School attendance and grades are improved, incidences of risky behavior decrease, life skills and lifelong healthy habits are acquired.  There are 26,000 young people between the ages of 5 and 18 who live within 1.5 mile radius of Jackson Square. But only 10 percent of these students participate in after school sports, arts, or recreation activities, in large part because they do not have a recreation center that is accessible and affordable.

 At the annual meeting, Urban Edge raised $130,000 towards its programs to strengthen Roxbury and Jamaica Plan.  The Jackson Sq. Recreation Center is a part of Urban Edge’s effort to redevelop, along with its community partners, the Jackson Square neighborhood. The project will cost $21.5 million to build. Urban Edge is already more than halfway towards meeting that fundraising goal. $11 million has already been committed to the project, through state and federal resources. The two story center, which will provide recreational and after school activities for the young people of the neighborhood, will have a regulation-size ice rink on the first floor, a turf field of equivalent size on the second floor, and academic and social service space. Young people in Roxbury and Jamaica Plain will be able to use the facility year-round for organized and unstructured recreational activities.