The
center was named in memory of 22-year old Fairfield City Councilman,
Matt Garcia, who passed away in early September 2008. When Matt ran for
city council, one of his campaign promises was to open a teen center.
The center was originally to be named the Billy Yarbrough Youth Center,
but at the request of the Yarbrough family was re-named.
The
Fairfield Police Activities League (PAL) Matt Garcia Youth Center
builds community by organizing youth sports and healthy activities that
develop personal character and foster a positive relationship among
police officers, youth and dedicated volunteers.
In
the past several years, the City of Fairfield was confronted with the
growing problem of juvenile delinquency. Through the inspired efforts of
Community Leaders, Law Enforcement, and Local Citizens to counteract
this trend, the Fairfield PAL Matt Garcia Youth Center was established.
The vision of the Fairfield PAL Matt Garcia Youth Center is to provide
supervised programs such as basketball, boxing, martial arts, music,
multimedia, soccer, dance, running, homework tutoring, and more.
The Fairfield PAL Matt Garcia Youth Center reaches
out to underserved kids in the City and provides safe, healthy
activities which promote teamwork, personal responsibility,
self-confidence, exercise and healthy living. At a time when youth are
barraged with negative influences and unproductive choices our programs
offer safe, constructive alternatives to gang involvement, crime, teen
pregnancy, delinquency, video game playing and just plain lethargy.
The Fairfield PAL Matt Garcia Youth Center
provides a framework of rules and regulations that serve as guideposts
for youngsters while they are growing up and will continue to serve them
in later years. Dedicated civilians and police officers serve as
coaches, instructors and mentors to youth who participate in the
Fairfield PAL Matt Garcia Youth Center programs. For some youth these
adults are the only people in their lives holding them to high
expectations while teaching basic fundamentals of sports and leadership.
The Fairfield PAL Matt Garcia Youth Center
is a community based tax exempt charitable organization that raises
funds through individual, corporation and foundation support. We
leverage each donation ten-fold by the hundreds of volunteer hours our
coaches and program volunteers contribute.
