After a few years of being closed, the building that formerly housed the Cross Courts Athletic Club, located at 433 W. Cross St., has been granted a newfound purpose as the new site of the Woodland Branch of the Boys & Girls Clubs.

On Friday evening, community members, elected officials, city leaders and United Way staff hosted a ceremonial ribbon cutting, officially christening the site that is set to open for summer camp services sometime later this month.

“To be here today in Woodland formally opening the local branch of the Boys & Girls Club is a dream come true,” Club CEO Kimberly Key said. “We have been working on this project for a couple of years, and there are many moving parts when establishing a club in a new community. A lot of people have helped make this happen, and we are just excited to serve kids and families. We are ready to go.

“The commitment and dedication from this community have been like nothing we have experienced. It’s been very special, and there are so many people to thank.”

In attendance for the ribbon cutting along with Key were Woodland Police Department Chief Derrek Kaff, Woodland Fire Chief Eric Zane, Woodland City Council Members Tom Stallard, Rich Lansburgh, Tania Garcia-Cadena, Mayor Victoria Fernandez, City Manager Ken Hiatt, Yolo County Supervisor Angel Barajas, Boys & Girls Clubs COO Jon Rango and Woodland Joint Unified School District Superintendent Elodia Ortega-Lampkin, Woodland School Board members Rogelio Villagranan and Noel Rodriguez, among others.

The 25,000-square-foot two-story facility includes two separate areas for kids and teens, with each divided section featuring its own technology room, study area, art room, and game center.

Two original racquetball courts remain for athletic activities, coupled with an outdoor athletic area with a pickleball court and a corn hole setup.

Upon arrival, meals will be provided to all registered youth before they participate in a Boys & Girls Clubs required “power hour,” homework, and tutoring session.

Key urges families interested in registering to go online or call the center to speak with on-site staff. She mentioned people call the center for information daily and that the Woodland School District has already created “interest lists.”

“As long as there is space, we will get kids registered,” Key assured. “If not, we will start a waiting list.”

After an anonymous Woodland area family decided to purchase the building a few years ago, they went to the Boys & Girls Clubs and City Manager Ken Hiatt, looking to collaborate on bringing a plan to fruition.

“It was a bit of serendipity,” Hiatt said. “We had a local family with a passion for youth in this community that had been looking for a facility to create that third place for kids to go that isn’t home or school. The building was for sale during the pandemic, and finally, they decided to pull the trigger and buy the facility and then reach out to the Boys & Girls Club to see if they were interested in opening up a Woodland Branch.”

Hiatt mentioned the plan was very interesting, and after speaking with the Yolo County Board of Supervisors, the city and board contributed $700,000 each.

“As the Woodland representatives, Supervisor Gary Sandy and I worked together with the city council to bring this proposal forward in late 2021,” Barajas said. “We got together to see what we could do financially to support this. Bringing the Boys & Girls Club means a lot. This place was pretty much dead and in a low-income area, and what we were able to do was bring it alive by investing in it. We will have hundreds of youth on a day-to-day basis here, safe and sound, working together, studying, and doing recreational things.”

Since the anonymous family paid for the renovations, the $1.4 million contribution will go toward funding the program for the first three years as the club establishes itself in the community.

“It’s exciting to have these moments when all that hard work and that vision of what you thought this place was going to be comes to reality,” Hiatt said. “It’s nowhere near as exciting as it will be to see the kids come and enjoy the space.”

Woodland has never had a Boys & Girls Club, but according to Key, it had always been on the list as a destination for a new branch.

“It’s been on the list, and it makes sense,” Key assured. “Once we got to know the folks here in Woodland and really assess the need that kids and teens have, we knew this was a place we needed to be. For us to come into a new community, it is critical to have the support of community leaders that really make things happen here in the city. We all serve kids and families, so to be welcomed into the fold is exciting.”

The old Cross Courts Athletic Club initially closed on March 19, 2020, during the peak of the COVID-19 restrictions. After more than a few updates via social media stating they still planned to open back up but never could due to restrictions, they announced they would permanently close their doors via a Facebook post on May 2, 2021.

“It comes with a sad heart to notify Cross Court members that the business is permanently closed,” the Facebook post read. “After 40 years of loving memories, we want to thank you for all the calories burned in our amazing classes, on our exercise equipment and on our courts. We say goodbye and wish you the very best with your help. Stay strong.”

“During the pandemic, all gyms were kind of in this constrained state of operating,” Hiatt said. “Cross Courts was a cherished facility for many in the community. It would have been nice to see them reopen, but if we are going to have an alternative use, a Boys & Girls Club is about as good as it gets.”

As a partner, the Woodland Joint Unified School District will offer busses from their two middle schools, Lee and Douglass, to bring students there after school.

“We are partnering with the Boys & Girls Club here to bring our middle school students by providing bussing,” Woodland Superintendent Ortega-Lampkin said. “We recognize that our middle schoolers don’t have the same opportunities. At the elementary level, we have a robust after-school program, and high school students have the opportunities to join clubs and sports teams, so we felt there was a missing gap to provide middle school students with more support.”

“This site provided a huge opportunity,” Stallard said. “This club was immensely needed. We have so many kids who need the extra support they just can’t get. This is a place designed to meet the needs of all kids. There are a few things that come along in the course of one’s public service that really makes a difference, this is one of those for me, and I couldn’t be more grateful.”