Leaders dug deep to celebrate new youth center coming to Cambridge
CAMBRIDGE, Md.- Once known as Mace’s Lane High School during times of segregation, the building next to Mace’s Lane Middle School was once an all African-American high school. The property is now abandoned, but Friday Afternoon elected officials celebrated a path forward for the space, as a new community center is taking over.
“We are honoring the commitment that I made 8 years ago when I was first running for Governor,” Gov. Larry Hogan said. “I said that if I was elected that the war on rural Maryland would be over and that communities like Cambridge that had long been ignored and neglected that they would no longer be forgotten.”
Elected officials and community leaders came together for a groundbreaking ceremony of Mace’s Lane Community Center. The building will hold a Boys and Girls Club, a gymnasium, incubator space, and meeting rooms. Also, there will be a museum showing the history of Maces Lane High School and the education of the African-American community.
“Well, you have more than 500 children that are going to walk past this building everyday,” Rev. Keith Cornish, the president of the new center, said. “So, on their way after school the idea that they can have somewhere to go that’s going to be safe and also enhance what they have learned in school it’s just a win, win situation.”
We are told having a partnership with the Boys and Girls Club on this project will set students up for success.
“The data is there, it’s clear; I mean the Boys and Girls clubs when they come into the community the number of people who complete high school, the number of students who go on to even stay with the boys and girls club, the number of youth who stay out of incarceration,” Rev. Cornish said.
“You know we provide caring mentors, unique experiences, and life changing programs, and we combine those things together ultimately with the idea with when a kid walks in a club they know that they’re loved; it changes their life,” Jeff Breslin, the President and CEO of Boys and Girls Club of Metro Baltimore, said.
While there’s still a ways to go for the project, leaders are proud of the teamwork that’s gone into it and what’s been accomplished.
“It’s one of my favorite parts about being Governor is being able to find out where there is a need and find the people who are working hard to try and make it happen,” Gov. Hogan said.
One of the next steps is to get funding for building materials. We are told the development of the project was set to be for one year, but it may take longer.
