After months in limbo and hard work, the youth who have fought so hard to save their “second-home” have succeeded in preserving the downtown youth centre.

“The youth who had been trying to get it to re-open when the Globe Youth Centre had closed called themselves the ‘Globe Saviors’,” said Jordanna, a volunteer at the Youth Centre. “They were brainstorming, they would meet at Jackson square and they would meet with Don [Mahleka] and try to think of creative ways to get this place back together.”

In March of 2011, the Globe Youth Centre, which was run out of the Centenary United Church by Settlement and Immigration Services (SISO), was shut down after SISO had to cut $120 million in funding due to internal problems.

“The youth who used to come here are now part of a youth committee,” said Mahleka, who is the centres only paid employee.

Akram El Mlafi is a Mohawk College student who has been a regular at the youth centre for a few years now and has been a driving force behind it’s re-opening.

“The majority of my friends are from the youth centre,” Mlafi said. “We would have meetings and brainstorm ideas for the future and how far we have come.”

Mlafi, who came to Canada from Morocco in 2007, says his family were big supporters of the youth centre and the service it provided to the young adults who visited. “My parents would say ‘I know you’re fine there’ when I would go to the youth centre.”

The newest challenge for the youth centre is to find new people to come and use it. Mlafi, and many others like him, find out about places like the Globe Youth Centre through services such as SISO.

“The centre is no longer for newcomers, it is completely open to any youth,” Jordanna said. “That’s actually one of the challenges of recruiting is that a lot of youth hear by word of mouth and think they can’t go their, but that’s not the case.”

Mahleka stated that the youth centre is a great service for the youth who use it, providing more than just a place to hang out.

“We know that this is a haven for new youth, we are still providing that support, that network of resources in the city as well.”

The Globe Youth Centre is run out of the Centenary United Church downtown on Main Street West and is open Tuesday to Friday from 3 to 9 p.m.