Parks said the club could look at adding after-school programs in Agawam.
AGAWAM – The Boys & Girls Club of Greater Westfield plans to do a needs assessment regarding whether it should increase its presence in this community.
“I know there is some interest. It is just a matter of seeing whether community-wide there is an interest in it,” William R. Parks, the executive director of the Westfield club, said Tuesday.
He met Monday with Mayor Richard A. Cohen and Deborah S. Dachos, planning and community development director, about the matter. Cohen is very enthusiastic about the possibility of more services being offered in Agawam.
The mayor said Monday that a greater presence in town by the Boys & Girls Club augmented by the storefront Y-Express being planned for Agawam would go far in meeting the needs of the community’s youths.
The Boys & Girls Club of Greater Westfield already offers a free lunch program summers at the Pheasant Hill public housing project.
Parks said the club could look at adding after-school programs in Agawam. As to whether it would need a building, Parks said that would come out of the needs assessment. Expanded programs would probably be done under the umbrella of the Boys & Girls Club of Greater Westfield or another nearby Boys & Girls Club, according to Parks.
The study will be done by his club under the guidance of the northeast regional office of the Boys & Girls Clubs of America in New York City. It will involve interviews with 20 to 25 people involved in areas that will include the schools, government and businesses.
“We want to get a good cross-section,” Parks said.
There has been talk about increasing programs in Agawam for the last few years, he said. It is too early to talk about any time frame without regard to the study or new programming, Parks said.
The Boys & Girls Club of Greater Westfield serves 1,500 children ages 5 through 18 from Westfield and the hill towns, including Southwick, Southampton, Granville and Russell. The facility works with more then 300 children a day. It focuses on character development and offers social, physical, cultural and mentoring programs.