NIAGARA FALLS, ONTARIO – Federal, provincial and municipal representatives joined the Boys and Girls Club of Niagara and community members today to celebrate the official grand opening of their brand new facility in Niagara Falls.

For decades, the Boys and Girls’ Club of Niagara has provided a safe, supportive place where children and youth can take part in recreation, arts, community and social programs. The new 38,255 square-foot building, located on McLeod Road, features a double gymnasium, accessible pool, ample programming space and outdoor play areas will enable the organization to continue offering accessible and engaging programs to children and youth throughout the community.

“The Boys and Girls Club of Niagara has been an integral part of our community for over 50 years,” said Rob Nicholson, Member of Parliament for Niagara Falls, Minster of Justice and Attorney General of Canada. “This new facility will enable the organization to continue offering our children and youth safe, accessible, and inclusive programs and services for years to come.”

“For years and years the Boys and Girls Club has provided a safe and healthy place for our kids to grow and lead healthy active lives,” said Kim Craitor, Member of Provincial Parliament for Niagara Falls.  “These new facilities will provide today’s kids and generations to come with a superb environment. The province is a proud partner in this venture. Helping our children develop healthy active and productive lives in a building like this is something as a caring community we can all be proud of.”

“After a long 14 year journey to build a new facility, The Boys and Girls Club of Niagara is very excited to finally be able to open the doors to our new Niagara Falls Centre. This new larger and modern facility will allow us to expand our programs and improve those we currently offer —servicing more children, youth and families than we have in the past,” said Blake Merritt, President of the Boys and Girls Club of Niagara. “The community has truly been supportive of our building campaign, and as a result we are indebted for the effort everyone has put forward to get us here today. We are very grateful for the support we had from our local political leadership in obtaining a grant from the Infrastructure Stimulus Fund, without which we would not be where we are today. We now have a new and better "good place to be" for the children and youth in the city for many years to come.”

The governments of Canada and Ontario are each contributing one third of the total eligible project costs, up to a maximum of $4.0 million.  The City of Niagara Falls is contributing $2.6 million and the Boys’ and Girls’ Club of Niagara is contributing the remaining $2.0 million toward the total project cost of $12.0 million.

Federal funding for this project comes from the Government of Canada’s Infrastructure Stimulus Fund, which is providing funding to over 4,100 infrastructure projects across the country.