You know what I feel we need more of?
Community centers.
Specifically, places where people can gather, have fun, host events or even just hang out. Similar to what libraries are, but not quite–a place where kids can be loud and rowdy and hang out, make friends, practice sports. Though they definitely should still have quiet areas, maybe craft rooms too. A nice place to go to and hang out after school before you’re ready to head home–or a safe place to stay if you don’t want to head home. Community centers could also still be fantastic for adults too–they could be used as a place to host classes on different crafts, or repairs, etc.–and still be a perfectly valid place to hang out and seek refuge.
Places like these do exist in many places in a few different forms, but a lot of them are directly tied to organizations and groups that may make people more hesitant to partake in them (ie churches, Police Athletic Leagues), or they have a cost barrier to taking part of the amenities (YMCA). While these places are definitely suitable and fulfilling for many people, they’re often limiting and stifling for others–if not just flat-out inaccessible. Not to mention, they don’t all fill the roles I mentioned above.
I think having robust community centers would be great for societies all over. I’ll admit, my imagination is a bit grand–community gardens, sports rec rooms, swimming pools, reading and craft rooms, a repair cafe, a food cafe, maybe a dorming area for overnight stays, soup kitchens, showers, mutual aid closets and such.
Though I guess that brings about the question of how this would be funded. With churches, it’s tithes and other forms of community fundraising. With police athletic leagues, its… taxes, I guess? Alongside other donations. And with the YMCA, it’s memberships that provide the funding for their amenities. My initial instinct is to say a mix of taxes and maybe some community contributions would be what funds a good community center, but then there comes the issue of some places having better or worse community centers depending on the median income of their area… especially when you see how places like libraries already get little funding in favor of larger policing budgets (the libraries in my city are all closed on Sundays, and have shorter hours in general, for example)
I know I’m just rambling at this point. I just think community centers are cool! They’re punk! And we should have them–cool, fun community centers!