At long last

Posted by Stacy Thacker | Sep 17, 2015 | Community |

Fourteen years later, youth center opens its doors in Fort Defiance

Navajo Times | Stacy Thacker
Kids cut the banner with large scissors during the grand opening of the Multipurpose Youth Complex in Fort Defiance on Friday.

FORT DEFIANCE

Navajo Times | Stacy Thacker
Shown above is the Multipurpose Youth Complex in Fort Defiance. Community members, youth and leaders attended the grand opening event on Friday. It’s been a 14-year project but now youth in the community have a place to play and study.

She would look at the big blue building and wonder if she’d ever get to see the inside of it.

Now Audrey Beyal, recreation coordinator with the Office of Diné Youth, is giving tours of it. Beyal was one of the first people inside the doors during the grand opening of the Multipurpose Youth Complex in Fort Defiance on Friday.

The complex was 14 years in the making and cost about $6.7 million. The complex includes a kitchen, eating area, a gym, a fitness room, an arts and crafts center and a place to study. Local and federal leaders were in attendance as well as community members and youth.

Beyal said when she started working with the youth in 2002 she didn’t know if she’d still be working with them when the new complex opened. She said she’s seen a lot of students come through the program anxious to see the new complex and while they have grown up and moved on, she was celebrating with them in mind.