Our Spot students attend miniature golf. (Courtesy Photo)
Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks is helping kids not only this summer, but also year round, to go further in life while exploring the city and succeeding in their studies. Our Spot is a year-round, after school program that provides free help with homework and other activities for youth and teens ages 12-18 years old.
The program is available at multiple parks across Los Angeles city, open Monday through Friday, from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m. The parks include East Rancho Dominguez Park in Compton, Earvin “Magic” Johnson Park in Los Angeles, and Franklin D. Roosevelt Park in Los Angeles.
Our Spot students learn music production and song in a workshop. (Courtesy Photo)
Roosevelt Permanent Recreational Service Leader Anthony Zamora describes the various activities that Roosevelt Park provides for the Our Spot program.
“We have different workshops, different resources that’s available to them.We also offer homework help. We take them out to different field trips and provide different experiences that they, you know, probably wouldn’t have elsewhere,” he explained.
With the Our Spot program, Roosevelt Park also assists students by allowing them to use computers which many may not have at home.
A mural to Nipsey Hussle and Kobe Bryant adorns an Our Spot program. (Courtesy Photo)
“We have a computer lab that’s open for them. So, we have a lot of teams that come in every day and game with each other, or use it for homework help or whatever they need for, honestly,” noted Zamora.
Some of the other Our Spot activities at various parks also include podcasting workshops, mindfulness and meditation exercises and even Hip-Hop Dance workshops.
With Roosevelt Park, the group even takes the youth on field trips around the city and even places such as Raging Waters.
A beautiful art painting leads to an Our Spot program. (Courtesy Photo)
“We also have a lot of Hollywood Bowl field trips that come up in the past,” Zamora said. “They also have gone to Six Flags, the [Los Angeles] Zoo, Universal Studios and stuff like that. We were also invited to the Virginia Robinson garden.”
Roosevelt Park’s Our Spot program also helps with young women looking for a way to build their self-esteem. “We have our girls empowerment conference,” he said.
To combat the heat, the Roosevelt Park staff also has pool movie nights as well.
“They just had a movie night with the Aquatics, the pool. So, they got to watch, I believe it was Captain America while night swimming,” said Zamora, who added that the youth are happy to have this program and these opportunities to make a change not only in the community but for their lives, noting, “They’re actually pretty excited,”
The Our Spot staff also becomes shoulders for many youth to lean upon and ask for help when times simply are hard at home. Not only does the program give a different perspective to many kids’ lives but, they also make sure they are not in famine additionally.
“We have had a lot of regulars that come in every day, week after week for a couple of years. So our staff, we build relationships with them as well,” he said. “We started our supper program to make sure no kid goes to bed hungry.”
Our Spot aims to simply help youth stay out of trouble, make lifelong friendships and to assist kids and teens to get ahead in life with their Youth At Work program.
“We encourage them to apply with the county and through the youth at Work program,” Zamora explained. Through a third party, Roosevelt’s Our Spot program can help provide employment opportunities for some youth.
It is free to attend the program and signup is not required for the after school Our Spot program under certain conditions.
“We encourage signing up, however, it is not required to come in,” Zamora said. “But, if they want to go on field trips and apply for the Youth At Work, then that is required for them to apply. It’s going to be on reservations.lacounty.gov.”
Our Spot is open year-round and accepts all teens and youth looking to join. For more information, visit: parks.lacounty.gov/ourspot/.