In dual efforts to keep city kids safe, the contrasts between these two recreation centers are stark

The four employees at Martin Luther King Recreation Center do all they can to make it a haven for North Philadelphia kids. They keep the playground clean, the basketballs inflated, and the games and classes moving. They offer counsel — but most importantly, they do what they can to keep kids safe.

“If this center wasn’t here, you would have a bunch of kids that have nowhere to go,” said maintenance worker Earl Lyles, who grew up playing at the center. “[They] would just be on the street and doing their thing. At least when you come in, you got adult supervision. The staff is kind of good with the kids. The kids always respect them.”

The center, on Cecil B. Moore Avenue near 21st Street, could benefit from a facelift. The front door is chipped. White residue covers the outdoor brick walls, and the sidewalks are cracked. The bottom of one door is torn apart, and a playground sign is spray-painted black. Inside of the gym, the white paint on the basketball backboards has faded.

MLK has no active social media advertising its programs and events.

MLK’s conditions are a microcosm of the struggles many recreation centers in North Philadelphia face: providing a safe, welcoming community space in one of the city’s most dangerous ZIP codes for teenagers, while lacking resources to maintain a constant stream of youth services.

“My job is [to] literally protect the kids,” said Monteek Freeman, who schedules the center’s programs. “It is important for me to protect the kids from any violence.”

A contrasting image emerges just three miles south at the Marian Anderson Recreation Center in Graduate Hospital. Its walls are adorned with pictures, trophies, awards, and colorful murals, relics of past players from the center’s various programs. Marian Anderson boasts a boxing room, karate dojo, classrooms, basketball courts, baseball field, and swimming pool, as well as classroom programming.

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“Kids come in and don’t know what they’re doing; whether it’s sports, academics, or social. Seeing them grow from year to year in all three aspects not just as a player but as a person is awesome,” said Demetrius Isaac, who grew up playing in the rec center and now coaches its famous baseball team, the Anderson Monarchs.

Why the difference? In July 2016, former Phillies player Ryan Howard, along with the MLB and the City of Philadelphia, donated over $2 million dollars to build a 7,500-square-foot state-of-the-art training center at Marian Anderson, which sits on 17th Street near Catherine. The renovation allowed the center to cater to more kids and practice rain or shine.

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The MLK rec center aims to serve its community with the same power as Marian Anderson, but it’s more challenging given its limited amount of funding. Kids in the neighborhood face challenges, surrounded by poverty and violence that experts say could be helped by a safe, fun place to play.

Steve Bandura, who runs Marian Anderson, said recreation centers in Philadelphia are faced with a lack of funding and staffing that leads to programs falling through the cracks.

Additional funding at Marian Anderson translates into more opportunities for players: seven kids from the Marian Anderson Monarchs baseball team went on to the Little League World Series, with then 13-year-old Mo’ne Davis leading the pack as the pitcher. Davis was the first girl to pitch a shutout game in the Little League World Series.

“We try to create a family atmosphere,” Bandura said. “The Monarchs’ program is really like one big family. When we put our travel team together, those kids stay together year-round and play three different sports together. All those families are together year-round from the time the kids are 7 [years old] or even 5, and our goal is to keep them together through high school.”

Kids in the program can participate in basketball, baseball, and soccer travel teams, along with camps and clinics together year-round.

At the MLK rec center, the mural at the front of the building speaks of the dream of the facility. It’s a Martin Luther King quote: “Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase.”

Despite their struggles, the MLK Center strives to be a worry-free place for neighborhood kids.

“When we get out of school, it’s a good getaway,” said 14-year-old Zak Bryant. “You can come here and play ball. [You] just don’t have to worry about anything.”

Allison Beck contributed to this report.