More than 4,500 filled backpacks have been provided free of charge to Binghamton youth since the City began funding a school supply program in 2017.

The City partners with CARES.

The Afterhours Teen Program at the Boys&Girls Club of Binghamton offers City youth late-night programming on Friday and Saturday nights from 7–11pm Programming includes sports, games, music, arts, fitness and field trips.

The City provides annual funding to support extended hours at the Club and programming at the Boys&Girls Club Teen Center, including comprehensive homework help and tutoring, internships and volunteer opportunities, and useful workforce experience.

For more information, visit www.bgcbinghamton.org.

Since the inception of the Boys&Girls Club Membership Program in 2014, the City of Binghamton has helped provide hundreds of youths with access to the organization's after-school and summer programming.

Annual membership fees and summer program fees can act as a barrier that prevents some children from joining the Boys&Girls Club, especially children from low-income families or families with multiple children. The Membership Program helps cover those fees for children whose families could not otherwise afford them.

The Boy&Girls Club seeks to "inspire and enable all young people, especially those who need us most, to reach their full potential as productive, caring, and responsible citizens." After-school programming focuses on education&career; sports, fitness&education; health&life skills; character&leadership; and the arts.

For more information, visit www.bgcbinghamton.org.

The Broome County Urban League's After-School Enrichment Program and Summer Enrichment Program serve children and teenagers, including youth with special needs.

The after-school program aims to advance the social, physical and academic well-being of students, offering fun, educational activities and homework help from well-trained staff.

Through the Summer Enrichment Program, students take weekly trips to local attractions, such as museums and parks, and take part in fun, enriching programming that includes arts and crafts, cultural activities, computer lessons and recreational time.

The City of Binghamton supports the Urban League's after-school and summer programs with Community Development Block Grant funding.

For more information, visit www.bcul.org/what-we-do/youth-services.html

The Binghamton City Hall Art Gallery is located on the second floor and open to the public during City Hall's regular business hours.

The gallery displays work from local artists, including students from the Binghamton City School District and Catholic Schools of Broome County, and exhibitions from organizations such as the Broome County Arts Council.

If you are interested in holding an exhibition in the Binghamton City Hall Art Gallery or having your students' artwork displayed, please contact Grace Doherty, Assistant to the Mayor for Neighborhood&Youth Affairs, at (607) 772-7001 or gvdoherty@cityofbinghamton.gov.

Binghamton City Hall is open year-round to schools and youth organizations that wish to learn about local government, civic engagement and the roles of various City departments.

In coordination with the Mayor's Office, field trips may be customized to advance or build upon specific lesson plans and/or meet certain goals. City departments can be made available to meet with students as part of a field trip upon request.

To schedule a field trip, contact Grace Doherty, Assistant to the Mayor for Neighborhood&Youth Affairs, at (607) 772-7001 or gvdoherty@cityofbinghamton.gov.

The Columbus Park Spray Pad, located at 50 Carroll Street, opened in June 2014 with the vision of providing all Binghamton children access to fun and safe recreational activities. It is free to the public and in operation from late May to early September.

The spray pad is roughly 10,000 square feet and showcases 10 unique water features, including elevated bucket dumps and ground nozzles. It replaced an outdated water fountain that was not designed for swimming or recreation.

On Saturdays in December, Recreation Park on Binghamton's West Side comes alive with holiday cheer as the Binghamton Parks&Recreation Department offers free carousel rides and seasonal activities for the whole family. The event includes horse and buggy rides, carolers and choruses, hot drinks and snacks, and visits with Santa.

For more information, call the Parks&Recreation Department at (607) 772-7017.

In the spring of 2018, the City of Binghamton completed a $98,000 renovation of the basketball courts at Columbus Park, renaming them in honor of King Rice, a Binghamton High School graduate, college basketball star and Division I head coach at Monmouth University.

The basketball courts, which had become cracked and worn, were milled and paved to create a smooth, durable surface and converted from half courts to full courts. Crews painted one of the courts red, white and blue, Binghamton Patriots colors, and the other “Tar Heel blue” in honor of Rice’s other alma mater, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The project also included new hoops, benches, tables and signage.

King Rice and his family attended the renaming ceremony with City officials and members of the community at Columbus Park on May 5, 2018.

The project was a collaborative effort between the City of Binghamton Parks&Recreation Department, the City Engineering Department, the Broome County Urban League and community members who have played or coached on the courts.

Columbus Park is located at 50 Carroll Street in Binghamton.

The Lee Barta Community Center is located at 108 Liberty Street on Binghamton’s North Side.

Owned by the City of Binghamton and staffed by the United Way of Broome County, the Barta Center offers residents a variety of free programming with a focus on promoting healthy lifestyles, including exercise classes and nutritional cooking workshops. It is a collaboration of the City of Binghamton, the United Way of Broome County and the Healthy Lifestyles Coalition.

The Barta Center underwent a $500,000 expansion project in 2017-18 that more than doubled its size. The building, which originally opened as police substation in 1998, had become too small to accommodate growing programming. The City demolished a blighted and vacant property next door at 110 Liberty Street to make room for the expansion.

The project was funded by $150,000 in Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) money from the City of Binghamton, $300,000 in New York State grant funds secured by Senator Fred Akshar and $50,000 from Visions Federal Credit Union.

The upgraded community center includes a full-size instructional kitchen, community room, computer lab, exercise area, food pantry and expanded work space for Fresh Cycles, the educational bike program based in the Barta Center basement.

Non-profit organizations, including CHOW, Legal Services of Central New York and Promise Zone, use the center to provide programming and resources to residents.

The community center is named for Patrolman Lee Barta, a Binghamton Police officer who was shot and killed in the line of duty on August 3, 1995. Barta was 29 years old.

Each year, Mayor Jared M. Kraham visits local schools to meet and talk with students of all ages. Mayor Kraham and the students often cover a variety of topics, from what it’s like being mayor to what a vibrant, thriving Binghamton looks like to our young people. They talked about issues such as public safety, infrastructure, housing, jobs and what a vibrant, thriving Binghamton looks like to them.

If you're interested in having Mayor Kraham visit your classroom or youth organization, please contact Grace Doherty, Assistant to the Mayor for Neighborhood&Youth Affairs, at (607) 772-7001 or gvdoherty@cityofbinghamton.gov.

The Mentor NOW Program pairs volunteer mentors with students in the Binghamton City School District.

Mentors spend an hour each week at their mentee's school participating in one-on-one activities with their mentee. The Mentor NOW program aims to promote academic advancement, improve attendance and support behavior enrichment by connecting students with mentors who boost self-esteem, improve social skills and support academic activities.

The BCSD Mentor NOW Program is part of the New York State Mentoring Program, founded in 1984.

The Mayor’s Office has supported the Mentor NOW Program since 2017.

For more information or to join, please contact Mentor NOW Coordinator Mary Ann Dorner at DornerM@binghamtonschools.org or (607) 762-8100 ext. 313.

The Broome-Tioga BOCES New Visions program offers high school seniors an opportunity to work with and observe professionals through worksite placements in the following fields: law and government, business, health and engineering. Students earn four high school credits upon completion of the program.

Binghamton City Hall participates in New Visions with student placements in departments that include the Mayor's Office and Corporation Counsel.

For more information, visit: https://www.btboces.org/CareerTechnicalEducation.aspx.

OurSpace at Recreation Park opened in June 2016 as the largest fully accessible playground in New York State.

The playground's mission is to encourage and engage the community, with a focus on those with special needs, in physical and social activity by providing opportunities for individuals of all ages and abilities to explore and socialize.

The 16,000 square-foot playground incorporates a variety of accessible features for people of all ages and abilities. It includes ramps throughout the playground, a swing designed for wheelchairs, a fully accessible merry-go-round, transfer stations, sensory gardens and a smooth surface.

OurSpace is a collaboration between the City of Binghamton Parks&Recreation Department and the community.

In 2017, the City of Binghamton won the award for Exceptional Park Design for OurSpace from the Central New York Recreation and Parks Society, the official leisure service industry organization for a 13-county region.

OurSpace is located at Recreation Park, 103 Laurel Avenue on Binghamton's West Side.

The City of Binghamton owns and operates 36 parks spread throughout the City for residents and visitors to enjoy. Binghamton parks offer a wide range of recreational opportunities for all ages and abilities, including pools, playgrounds, ball fields, basketball courts, tennis courts, a skate park, a dog park, pickle ball courts, trails, forested areas and, of course, carousels. OurSpace at Recreation Park is the largest fully accessible playground in New York State.

All parks are open from dawn to dusk and free to the public.

For more information and a full list of City parks and their locations, please visit the Parks & Recreation webpage.

Safety Town is a national safety education program sponsored locally by the Binghamton Parks&Recreation Department. It is open to children entering kindergarten and first grade.

The interactive program features presenters who speak to the children about various safety topics, including:

• Car and pedestrian safety (presentation by a crossing guard)
• Animal safety (presentation by a Binghamton Police Officer)
• Fire safety (presentation by the Binghamton Fire Department, featuring a fire truck)
• Poison safety (presentation by EMS)
• Bus safety (presentation by First Student, featuring a short bus ride)
• "Stranger danger" (presentation by Crime Victims Assistance)
• Pool, boat, bathtub and beach safety (presentation by a lifeguard)
• Bike and helmet safety (presentation by the Broome County Health Department)

As part of the program, children interact with and learn from the Safety Town Village set up on a playground. Sessions are held at Thomas Jefferson Elementary School.

For more information, call the Binghamton Parks&Recreation Department at (607) 772-7017.

The City of Binghamton's Summer Playground Program is a free five-week day camp for Binghamton children entering kindergarten through fifth grade.

Operated by the Parks&Recreation Department, the Summer Playground Program is held five days a week at six City parks across Binghamton. The program not only provides City youth with fun and safe recreational opportunities right in their neighborhood parks, it also helps families by providing summer childcare, which may be difficult to find and expensive.

Through the Summer Playground Program, children have the opportunity to play sports and games, swim, participate in arts and crafts activities and more. Lunch and snacks are provided each day free of charge.

The City of Binghamton also offers summer programming for preschoolers in half-day sessions at Columbus Park.

In addition to serving children from preschool to fifth grade, the Summer Playground Program also includes a youth employment component that provides jobs to dozens of Binghamton teenagers who help run the program each summer.

For more information, contact the Parks&Recreation Department at (607) 772-7017.

Grow Binghamton is a six-week summer youth employment program run by Volunteers Improving Neighborhood Environment (VINES). Binghamton teenagers grow fruits and vegetables for the community at VINES' Urban Farm on Tudor Street in Binghamton. They also develop important workforce development skills, participate in trainings and go on field trips.

Grow Binghamton provides fresh food to those in need, unites Binghamton youth and teaches lessons around cooperation, collaboration and responsibility.

The City of Binghamton supports Binghamton Grow with Community Development Block Grant funds.

For more information, please visit https://vinesgardens.org/programs/youthprogram/.

The City of Binghamton offers a variety of youth sports programs and recreational opportunities for Binghamton children and teenagers through the Parks&Recreation Department, including:

• Soccer
• Football
• Cheerleading
• Basketball
• Little League, T-Ball&Softball
• Lacrosse
• Golf
• Wrestling
• Tennis
• Swimming
• Summer Playground Program

To register, visit https://cityofbinghamton.recdesk.com/Community/Home. For more information, contact the Parks&Recreation Department at (607) 772-7017.

Overview

Connecting Binghamton teenagers and young adults to meaningful summer employment opportunities provides them with critical workforce development skills, job experience, life skills and professional engagement.

Parks & Recreation Summer Employment

The City of Binghamton provides jobs to dozens of Binghamton teenagers each summer, including Lifeguard, Spray Pad Attendant, Summer Fun Counselor, Tennis Instructor, Safety Town Counselor, Recreation Attendant, Sports Supervisor, and Laborer.

For more information, visit https://cityofbinghamton.recdesk.com or contact the Parks & Recreation Department at (607) 772-7017.

VINES Grow Binghamton

Grow Binghamton is a six-week summer youth employment program run by Volunteers Improving Neighborhood Environment (VINES). Binghamton teenagers grow fruits and vegetables for the community at VINES' Urban Farm on Tudor Street in Binghamton. They also develop important workforce development skills, participate in trainings and go on field trips.

Grow Binghamton provides fresh food to those in need, unites Binghamton youth and teaches lessons around cooperation, collaboration and responsibility.

The City of Binghamton supports Binghamton Grow with Community Development Block Grant funds.

For more information, please visit https://vinesgardens.org/programs/youthprogram/