Clarksville, TN – Clarksville Mayor Kim McMillan, in conjunction with the Clarksville Parks and Recreation Department and the Clarksville Police Department, is introducing a new program for youth and their families. Summer Night Lights is an eight week program, which will run from June 14th through August 3rd on Thursday and Friday nights.
The program will take place at two locations. On Thursdays, the event will be held at the Kleeman Community Center, 166 Cunningham Lane, from 6:00pm–9:30pm. On Friday evenings, it will take place at the Burt-Cobb Community Center/Dixon Park, 1011 Franklin Street, from 6:00pm–10:30pm.
Dinner is being served at 7:30pm each night by Manna Café and is provided by the event sponsors. Those sponsors are: Manna Café, BFS Insurance, Miller Motte Technical College, Senator Tim Barnes, Workforce Essentials, LEAP organization, and DBS Engineering.
“I think it’s important to keep students involved during the summer. The Summer Night Lights program not only offers a supervised environment for students to see their friends, it also offers the chance for them to do something active with their families and to build a greater sense of community for families who attend together. There will be learning opportunities for all family members as well as the chance to have some fun together,” said Mayor Kim McMillan.
“Clarksville is one of the few cities in the country to have committed to a Summer Night Lights program. Los Angeles initiated the first to address their growing gang problem and a couple of other cities have followed suit,” said Tonya Vaden, Deputy Director of Administration and Special Services at the Department of Parks and Recreation. “For Clarksville, the issues are a bit different but we believe this project will address the need for organized, healthy activity, the opportunity for families to have fun together, a chance for students to stay involved with their friends and classmates and the opportunity to show their community pride. We’re excited to be a part of the program.”
There are still opportunities to volunteer for Summer Night Lights. Anyone who is interested in being a part of this new and exciting program and log on to the Hands On Clarksville site, search for the Summer Night Lights event and sign up for the date, time that works best. Volunteers who register will be contacted about the event’s volunteer needs. Volunteer duties include: Onsite registration, trash pick-up, activity supervision, serving meals, set up and break down of event.
“I want to thank everyone who has worked so diligently to bring this program together: the terrific group at Parks and Recreation, the event sponsors and all of the people who have already volunteered. This is an important program for our community and I’m so proud of all we are going to accomplish,” said Mayor McMillan.
