JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) – A local church is working to provide a safe and fun outlet for young people in South Jackson in hopes of keeping them off the streets and reducing crime.
New Horizon Ministries is working to transform an old, large warehouse into a youth sports and activity center.
From the outside the building looks like just another building on Raymond Road in Jackson. But on the inside, the 100,00 square foot building turns into a sports complex.
“We’re in South Jackson because there’s not a lot of things to do, so we’re strategically located between South Jackson and West Jackson,” state Rep. Ronnie Crudup Jr. said.
Crudup Jr. is at New Horizon Church. The church owns the building and oversees this new project in south Jackson.
“First it was Sam’s Warehouse, it was a flea market, then a furniture store, and now it’s going to be a youth facility,” Crudup said.
Crudup says this complex is still a work in progress, but when it’s finished it will offer an oasis of entertainment.
“We do basketball, boxing, tennis, anything you can imagine we’d do here at the facility,” Crudup said.
There will also be rock climbing, as well as a lounge area with a special mural of the city that is painted as a backdrop inside the facility.
“We’re going to have kids here on a weekly or daily basis playing basketball and doing other things like rock climbing and teaching art, all the things you can think of that we want our kids to be successful in,” Crudup said.
With crime on the rise, murders in the double digits and young people going down the wrong path, Crudup says he wanted to offer this new project to young people who are hungry for change.
“That’s one of the reasons why crime is high, because kids don’t have anywhere to go, and kids don’t have anything to participate in. I am 45 years old, I had ice rinks, water parks, and everything for our children. Now we are doing our part to bring these activities back to the kids at a young age in this area,” said Crudup.
Crudup says the goal is to have the church complete the sports complex by the end of the year.
“It is important for the church to be servants, it is better to serve than to be served, so it is part of our job to take care of our children and our youth and the community, it is part of the responsibility of the church. .”
Rep. Crudup says the Saturday Night Basketball event will be held this weekend at the sports complex from 6 p.m. until 10 p.m. for all teenagers aged 13 and over. The sports complex is located at 590 Raymond Road in Jackson.
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