AMHERST — Planning for a youth empowerment and cultural center, a recommendation from the Community Safety Working Group in a report delivered to the Town Council three years ago, remains in progress, even after town officials pledged $500,000 from the American Rescue Plan Act toward its creation in fall 2021.

At the Community Safety and Social Justice Committee meeting Wednesday, members learned that a feasibility study is underway by the University of Massachusetts’ Donahue Institute for the youth empowerment center, which the working group described in its May 2021 report as a “long-needed facility (that) will be open to all youth in town and serve the youth of all racial backgrounds.”

Camille Theriaque, who leads the Community Responders for Equity, Safety, and Service department, told the committee that she and Philip Avila, the assistant director of the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, are the staff liaisons to a panel looking to establish the youth empowerment center, being coordinated by the town’s Recreation Department and town finance officials.

Theriaque explained that before such a plan for a center is created, there will need to be input from youth involved, ensuring that the needs of students are being met. This will be done through surveys and talking to the students, such as at the first day of school event later this month, and September’s Block Party.

Getting more input is important so there is a more robust report in advance of establishing the center.

The working group’s report notes the center “will give Black, Indigenous and people of color (BIPOC) youth a voice, a place to excel, and a place to participate in after-school activities. The Youth Center will provide a range of activities such as theatre, arts, fitness classes, job readiness, and academic support.”

Not having the center in place already continues to be a worry for the social justice committee members.

“How are we supposed to oversee and monitor when now it’s on this side kind of realm, that we don’t have a lot of information on,” said Debora Fereira, who co-chairs the committee and suggested the latest study was more “delay tactics.”

Avila, though, said the center continues to be BIPOC focused and that town officials want it created. “The effort for sure is to move this forward, as quickly and feasible as possible,” Avila said.

There are also concerns that getting more input undermines the work previously done by consultant 7 Generations Movement Collective.

At Large Town Councilor Ellisha Walker, who served on the working group, said data it collected with the consultant was “very intentional” and “curated very specifically” and remains valid for the need.

Pat Ononibaku, president of the Black Business Association of Amherst Area, who has been critical of how ARPA money is spent by the town, said there is “chaos” in development of the youth empowerment center and disrespect toward the work done by the consultant, which included the late Demetria Shabazz.

CRESS update

Meanwhile, the social justice committee got an update on the work being done by CRESS, which currently has four responders, or only half of the eight responders when it is fully staffed. Theriaque explained that two left for other private sector work, one for another Amherst town job and one to 80 Acres, an organization based in Amherst promoting racial and climate justice.

Even with that, demand for CRESS services is growing, Theriaque said. There were 76 calls in June, 31 town department collaborations and 160 recorded interactions with neighbors. In July, the numbers increased to 94 calls, 52 town department collaborations and 226 interactions with neighbors, a better than 40% increase.

The town is actively recruiting for vacant responder positions and will continue to meet the goal of having four multi-racial teams serving the community, she said.

Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.