Town to Open New Community Center

Mount Pleasant is moving ahead with plans to open an afterschool program in the building formerly occupied by the Boys and Girls Club.

The Boys and Girls Club of the Trident Area folded in July and ended all of its afterschool and summer programming throughout the region. The City of Charleston found operators for its shuttered Boys and Girls Club programs, but no one in Mount Pleasant was willing to fund the program.

This week, a council committee approved a plan to add a much scaled-back community center program to the Miriam Brown Center, which previously housed the Boys and Girls Club.

Read previous stories on the Boys and Girls Club.

The town’s plan will cost $13,000 annually. The Boys and Girls Club said it would cost roughly $100,000 annually to fund its programs, which included afterschool and summer activities as well as meals and snacks for students during those times and field trips.

“I’m delighted to have programs return to the Miriam Brown Center,” said Councilwoman Thomasena Stokes-Marshall. “I know the residents of Old Village will be excited to have equal services as all the other community centers.”

Stokes-Marshall pushed for the town to move community center services to the Miriam Brown Center. The town operates community centers on York Street and on 6th Avenue already.

“We already have the building, so it just makes sense,” said Town Administrator Eric DeMoura. “We already pay for the lights, the air conditioning, the maintenance, so we might as well put it to good use.”

The center will open in January. Weekday hours will be 3:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. and from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday. During the summer and on school holidays, the center will be open from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday to Friday and noon to 4 p.m. on Saturdays.

The town will be hiring part-time staff for the facility, DeMoura said. It will also upgrade certain technology offerings at the building prior to its opening.

Note: This story is modified from its original version to correctly report that the center has already been approved and will open in January.