_{Youth Hub ribbon cutting}

by Charles Gladden

BELIZE CITY, Fri. June 13, 2025

The official ribbon cutting for a fully renovated and furnished Youth Hub at the Hope Center was held on Thursday, June 12, by the Belize City Council, in partnership with Pickstock area representative, Hon. Anthony Mahler.

“The first Hub has been a game changer in the city in terms of delivering the sort of institution where our kids can go after school to get mentoring, tutoring, and help with their homework. It’s an investment. It’s a strategy to invest in our youth now … many of our kids have been left behind. Many of our kids who are going to school don’t have access to the internet, and spaces where there is a built-in tutor to mentor and tutor those kids. At all these hubs, we have that within the scope of the project,” said Mayor of Belize City, Bernard Wagner.

As Mayor Wagner mentioned, this new Youth Hub is the second to be established under the Belize City Council (which funded the project), following the opening in 2023 of the first one, which is located at City Hall in Downtown Belize City and caters to over 50 young minds.

As mentioned, the Youth Hub is designed to create a safe space for school children to go to after classes and on the weekends to receive assistance with school assignments from in-house mentors.

“We have an in-house tutor who assists the kids with homework and mentoring. If you want to put a resume together, they can facilitate that. So, he served both in-school and out-of-school students,” said Mayor Wagner. “At this facility, it is about 20. At the downtown City Hall, it’s approximately 50.  This is a very strategic area, given that it serves Lake-I, Pickstock, and Freetown divisions, so we felt that this was a strategic area. We want to expand the hub initiative; it’s a part of our broader plan of driving youth development and providing the spaces that they can learn in … a nice environment,” he added.

“I truly believe that if most of the people who graduate from primary school don’t graduate from high school, competing as a nation in this digital age, we will struggle. I truly believe that when many of the kids get home, they don’t have the necessary support at home. So, I think after-school programs like this will help our young people in terms of staying in school and advancing in their education,” commented Hon. Mahler.

Talks of a countrywide roll-out of similar hubs are on the table, said Minister Mahler.