SENATOR CABRERA WELCOMES $1.5 MILLION IN STATE FUNDING TO HELP CREATE YEAR-ROUND OPPORTUNITIES FOR LOCAL YOUTH
NAUGATUCK – State Senator Jorge Cabrera (D-Hamden) today welcomed the approval of $1.5 million in state funding to help create a year-round regional youth infrastructure network, providing out-of-school care for local at-risk youth and reducing economic stress on cost-burdened childcare consumers and working parents.
The state’s Community Investment Fund 2030 Board approved the project at its meeting today in Hartford; under state law, the State Bond Commission must approve the project and release the funds within 60 days.
The money will be used to build the water and sewer infrastructure needed to operate the YMCA regional summer camp.
“I’ve supported this funding for months and months because I know how hard it can be for some working parents to make sure their kids are safe and getting some structured activities after the school day is over,” Sen. Cabrera said. “And let’s face it – kids are pretty stressed out these days, too. Let’s give them access to some planned activities in great indoor and outdoor spaces and let them develop new skills and interests.”
Partnering with the Naugatuck YMCA, Waterbury Police Activity League (PAL), and Forca Fitness LLC, the Naugatuck youth infrastructure project envisions a seamless, 365-day out-of-school care safety net across two major sites.
The Summer Anchor (to be located at 308 Gunntown Road) builds out the vital access infrastructure to enable a summer 2027 partial opening for the Naugatuck YMCA Regional Summer Camp, opening up affordable outdoor care when schools close. The program should launch by summer 2027 and serve 100 children; later phases adding utilities and permanent camp features could expand capacity to more than 400 children annually.
The School-Year Anchor (to be located at 173 Church Street) tackles a downtown eyesore by completely restoring the historic, vacant Salem Theater into a youth athletic hub. It will provide structured after-school boxing, MMA, and mentorship ultimately for 300 to 500 teens a year.
A dedicated transportation pipeline run by Waterbury PAL and the public school systems will connect these pieces, moving kids from Waterbury and Naugatuck seamlessly from outdoor summer camp right into downtown after-school training.
In future years, this project has the potential to expand into other distressed municipalities in the NVCOG region, including Ansonia, Derby, and Bristol.
