The Niles Teen Center will be moving out of its leased home at Golf Mill Shopping Center and into a new, expanded, multi-million dollar permanent space the village owns, village officials stated in a news release where they also announced funding for creating the new location. Mayor George Alpogiani s stated in the Jan. 28 release that the village secured $1.2 million in state and federal grants that will be used to build out space for the Teen Center on the second floor of the village’s human services building at Waukegan Road and Oakton Street. The new Civic Center Plaza location is expected to be a “more modern facility” that is more than 4,000 square feet large. The Teen Center is a village-owned program and space for youth in grades 6 to 12. During the academic year, it serves as an after school hub, and in the summer a go-to for youth. The center is open four hours on days it operates. Youth are offered homework help, arts and crafts, board games and other activities, as well as access to a cafe/lounge and computer lab. The center holds such community events as dances and fundraisers, according to the village website. Village leaders say the new center, in the village-owned property, is expected to save Niles taxpayers more than $1 million. Also, the new space will be more than double the size of what the center has at the shopping center. The extra room will allow for expanded programming and services to accommodate the increasing number of participating teens, according to the release. “By investing in a permanent, Village-owned space, we are creating a stable, accessible home for our Teen Center and positioning it for long-term success,” Alpogianis stated in the release. “This new facility allows us to expand programs, better serve our youth, and responsibly use public funding to benefit our growing community.” The village had initially signed a five-year agreement to move the Teen Center to 8922 N. Greenwood Ave. – with a two-year termination option. But that changed after the village secured the grant money. The terms of the state and federal grant funding requires that the center be located in a village-owned facility because the money can only be used for improvements to property Niles owns. “Following a reassessment of community needs, we determined that a centrally located, village-owned site best serves families and teens while strengthening connections to other municipal services,” the mayor stated in the release. When the center would move and open at the new location was not immediately clear. ...read more read less