A Baltimore official suggested Monday that the Harford County Boys & Girls Club may be jumping the gun in publicizing that it will soon be opening clubs in Park Heights.
Portia Harris, associate director of the Baltimore Department of Recreation and Parks? Bureau of Recreation, said that the city has been in communication with the Harford County Boys & Girls Club about opening city locations, but that nothing had been finalized.
“It?s a great idea, and I would be more than happy to discuss it … once all the signatures are in place,” Harris said.
Don Mathis, executive director of the Harford Boys & Girls Club, said the chapter was asked by the nonprofit?s national office to oversee “rejuvenating” the club?s presence in Baltimore after the Boys & Girls Clubs of Central Maryland “went belly-up” about a year ago.
“We?re forming it with Baltimore people,” Mathis said, adding that the organization has already gathered $200,000 to form the Boys & Girls Clubs of Metropolitan Baltimore.
Mathis said the club?s first Baltimore chapter would open in Park Heights in a city-owned building next to Magna, a company that builds automobile parts.
Paul Myles, the general manager for Magna, said he was not aware of the efforts to open a Boys & Girls Club next door but that he speculated the two neighbors would have a “good relationship.”
“We can show [Boys & Girls club members] an opportunity,” he said. Mathis said part of his organization?s role in Baltimore would be to help teens with job training.”
