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Stamford Boys & Girls Club Looking At Yerwood Center For More Space

STAMFORD, Conn. -- The Stamford Boys & Girls Club is bursting at the seams and is looking for additional space for its after-school and summer camp programs.

The Stamford Boys & Girls Club is in discussions to use the closed Yerwood Center for some of the club's programs.

The Stamford Boys & Girls Club is in discussions to use the closed Yerwood Center for some of the club's programs.

Photo Credit: Frank MacEachern

One place it is looking at is the Yerwood Center, the closed community center at 90 Fairfield Ave., said club executive director Michael Cotela. The Boys & Girls Club is in discussions with the Yerwood Center's board of directors and the city, the building owner. But there hasn't been any decision on the center's future by any of the parties involved, he said.

"We don’t know yet that is what the discussions are about. Right now we are talking with the Yerwood's board," he said. "Yerwood still has a contract with the city."

The Yerwood Center closed its doors last year due to financial pressures. 

The Boys & Girls Club has had to turn away some children, especially those in the 6- to 7-year-old age group because the club didn't have room for them in its programs.

"There is a great need for young children after school activities and we hate turning children away," he said. 

The club is also looking at other options for space, Cotela said.

"We are going to look everywhere we can in order to fill that void,” he said.

The Yerwood Center was named for Dr. Joyce Yerwood, a family doctor who was Fairfield County's first black female physician. She died in 1987 at the age of 78. She founded the community center as a place for Stamford's black community to gather.

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