Photo: Chaiel Schaffel/WBZ NewsRadio
MATTAPAN, Mass. (WBZ NewsRadio) — The Department of Conservation and Recreation kicked off its tenth year of the Summer Nights program Monday.
The program, which launched in 2015, is intended to help kids in communities across the Bay State stay active and busy during the long summer afternoons and evenings.
Lieutenant Governor Kim Driscoll, DCR Commissioner Brian Arrigo, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, and other state and local leaders celebrated the launch at the Ryan Playground in Mattapan, shooting hoops with kids and teens.
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"$2.6 million, we think we’re gonna serve 20,000 youth," Driscoll said of the program's funding.
The funds will support 100 community organizations across Massachusetts to provide free activities including sports, arts and crafts, storytelling, poetry, music, cooking, nature exploration, health and wellness, career and college readiness, and leadership skill-building.
1 of 2 Photo: Chaiel Schaffel/WBZ NewsRadio
2 of 2 Photo: Chaiel Schaffel/WBZ NewsRadio
"Ensuring that we’ve got thriving youth, joy. That’s what happens in spaces like this all across the Commonwealth," Driscoll said.
Omri Merryman's father runs Lights Out Shooting Gym in Lynn, which is hosting basketball skills and drills and junior varsity and varsity basketball leagues as part of the program. Merryman said Summer Nights is a big benefit for the kids there.
"They’ll come down and have the time of their lives," Merryman told WBZ NewsRadio. "Just being able to interact with other kids and be active and see us and see how we move and how we carry ourselves."
Summer Nights will run through late August. A full list of activities and the organizations involved can be found here.
WBZ’s Chaiel Schaffel (@CSchaffelWBZ) reports.
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