Members with the Boys & Girls Clubs of Mason Valley will break ground Friday on a new facility made just for teenagers. The new William N. Pennington Center with triple the current space that’s available for teens.

The current facility is 2,500 square feet and can occupy about 50 kids. The new facility is going to be 7,200 square feet, raising that occupancy to about 200 teens.

A $1.4 million grant from the William N. Pennington Foundation has allowed the Boys & Girls Clubs of Mason Valley to launch this project, but the club says they are still looking for additional fundraising money to help with the new center's operating costs.

“The new Teen Center will allow us to reach more youth, in particular teens and pre-teens that other agencies have a difficult time attracting,” Travis Crowder, chief professional officer for the Club, said. “We are able to address numerous gaps in service as well as providing a safe environment for teens to achieve their goals with primary focus on education, career opportunities and simply a sense of belonging. This project would simply not be a reality if not for the tremendous commitments of the various foundations, community members, our Board of Directors and of course our dedicated staff.”

Construction of the new teen center is expected to be complete by summer of 2018.