Help shape the future of the new South Hayward Youth and Family Center

The rebuilding and reimagining of the South Hayward Youth and Family Center will be the focus of a special March 21 event to inspire community ideas and kickoff a capital fundraising campaign for the project.

Planned as a community Block Party, the event will include free food, games and participatory mural painting, and will take place rain or shine from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, March 21, at 680 Tennyson Road, the site of the current Youth and Family Center at the corner of Tennyson and Ruus roads.  In addition to kicking off the capital fundraising campaign, the event also will mark the launch of a Youth Advisory Panel participatory design process.

Since 2013, the City of Hayward, Alameda County and the Hayward Area Recreation and Parks District (HARD) have been working toward a shared vision of the new center—tentatively to be called The Stack Center, a name drawn from the local nickname for the City of Hayward, The Haystack or The Stack, for short.

In addition to serving as a community gathering place, The Stack Center is being programmed to serve as a multi-cultural neighborhood hub for social innovation and well-being—with health clinics and wellness services, education and technology training and equipment, art studios and performance spaces, and economic development opportunities.

To learn more, go online to the project page on the City of Hayward website and the Center’s own website, www.stackcenter.org.