It’s exciting that the Boys and Girls Club of Lawrence is about to break ground on a new teen center.

Groundbreaking is set for Aug. 10 on the 18,000 square-foot facility, which will be connected to the Lawrence school district’s College and Career Center at 2910 Haskell Ave. The new teen center is expected to accommodate significantly more teens than the current center at 1520 Haskell Ave.

The current facility can serve just 70 middle-school and high school students per day. By comparison, the Boys and Girls Club works with 1,500 elementary-age students at the district’s 15 elementary schools.

Boys and Girls Club Executive Director Colby Wilson said the new center would be able to accommodate 350 teens.

The $4.25 million center will include a teaching kitchen, audio and video production rooms, an arts area, a gymnasium and a performing arts area. The connection to the College and Career Center will allow Boys and Girls Club teens access to the robotics and science lab, 3-D printing and other work spaces at the school district’s facility.

The teen center is a partnership between the Boys and Girls Club and the school district, which donated the land for the facility. The Boys and Girls Club raised the funds for the center’s construction.

“It was just a really good partnership (with the school district), and it’s working in the elementary schools where we use the space and the classrooms, the gyms and the cafeterias, after school, and coordinate ways to make that work in the schools,” Wilson said. “So, this is kind of a continuation of that. We’re just making it so that middle school and high school kids can continue with the Boys and Girls Club.”

The Boys and Girls Club provides a vital service to the Lawrence community, offering a safe environment for children to participate in supervised activities. That’s particularly important in an era when most parents are working until well after 5 p.m.

The teen center will add space that allows the Boys and Girls Club to expand the services it offers to older youths and serves as an excellent example of a complementary partnership between local government and a nonprofit agency. It’s a win for youth, their families and the community as a whole.