LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- A place that provides a safe space for local youth in the Smoketown neighborhood is expanding.
The doors at the Steam Exchange Community Art Center are open five days a week for students to come and get help with homework, take art classes and more.
It's now in the process of expanding.
The doors at the Steam Exchange Community Art Center are open five days a week for students to come and get help with homework, take art classes and more. (WDRB photo)
"I used to go to other community centers, but it wasn't like this," intern artist Parrys Jewell said.
Jewell is one of dozens of youth who have come through the doors of the Smoketown Steam Exchange Program.
"And they really like kept me out of trouble because before I came to Steam Exchange, I used to be outside with the wrong crowd a lot," Jewell said.
Housed inside a former liquor store that students helped renovate, the steam exchange program was created to give youth a safe environment.
"So the goal is that kids can come here, they mostly walk here after school and hang out with us, and we have like a safe and structured place for them to spend their out of school time," co-director Rachel Mauser said.
"Smoketown is a really underserved neighborhood but the kids here have just as much talent and creative energy as like kids anywhere in the city," co-director Caitlin Cannapell said.
Cannapell and Mauser are co-directors and said after 10 years, the program has outgrown the building.
"So we just launched a fundraiser that goes on through the end of June and we're trying to raise $30,000 to help do the renovations in the new building," Cannapell said.
The new building is next door and will allow the program to accommodate more students.
The doors at the Steam Exchange Community Art Center are open five days a week for students to come and get help with homework, take art classes and more. (WDRB photo)
"We're going from having one classroom that we have to share amongst all the four different age groups that we serve to having five classrooms in the new building," Cannapell said.
And families will no longer have to ship children away for summer break.
"So that some of the kids that would have to go live with relatives may be out of town because their parents were working, can now stay home with their families during the summer because they can hang out with us during summer camp," Cannapell said.
That not only motivates students like Jewell, it also makes them feel special.
"And for them to want to invest in me, that means a lot because I am not used to all of this attention," Jewell said.
There will be a soft opening with tours on May 19 and the new building is scheduled to be finished sometime next year.
To find out how you can support the program, click here.
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