 Hello, Columbia. Welcome to City Talk, where we talk about important topics in the City of Columbia. On this City Talk, we focus on summer programs for youth in our community. We have with us Assistant City Manager, Henry Simons, who will talk to us about how the City of Columbia is prepared to help youth in our community with activities of summer that are proactive and productive. Thank you so much for being with us. Yes, ma'am. Thank you for having me. I know that we've had a pandemic break, so to speak. So we've not had summer programs in the City of Columbia for the past couple of years. So tell me how you and your team have been able to transition to bring those programs back. So first of all, we're very excited about the opportunity. As you stated, it's been two years since we've been able to conduct summer camp. And for our citizens in the community and our parents, they're extremely excited that we are back this summer to provide activities to our youth. And we know that there's a lot going on in the community. And we want to be able to provide a safe space for our kids. And our summer camp, more than ever, is much needed in the community because it's been absent for the last couple of years. So we're excited about offering this to the community. Okay. And speaking of much needed in the community, tell us this year where are city camps located? So our summer camps specifically are going to be at Willland Park, Martin Luther King Park and Greenview. And those are areas where we're kind of focused on those activities as far as summer camp. And that's going to start on June 13. But there are other specialty camps that'll be all over the city from art camps to sports camps. You know, we have outdoor camps that we're offering. So we have a variety of specialty camps aside from our regular summer camp. Okay. I heard the start date June 13. And that will continue through what date? That will continue through August 5th. Okay. August 5th. The entire summer. Yes. The entire summer. I've also heard about primetime in the parks. Tell us exactly what is primetime in the parks. So primetime in the parks, we wanted to give our young people an opportunity on Friday nights in particular to go into a safe space into our recreational centers for activities from the 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. hour. A lot of activities that we're seeing in the news and in the community is happening during that time. So every Friday to summer, we're going to have a variety of activities happening at a variety of parks in that 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. hour from movies in the park, from teen activities in the park, just a number of activities that will focus on our youth and pull them in to a positive environment and a safe environment. And that's every single Friday the summer we'll have something available at various parks around the city. Okay. And for parents and guardians listening, the primetime in the parks, that sort of focuses on say our older kids so I guess is there a range for that? Yeah, we're trying to identify that 13 and up population, 13 to 18 population for these types of activities. We know that they're out of school, it's a Friday night and there's a lot of things going on in the community but so we wanted to make sure that there was a place for them to engage at their level with young people their age and also just have a good time in the park. So we're very excited about that and looking forward to our citizens and our parents bringing the students or the youth to the actual gym. Okay. Sounds like great activities on Friday evenings for teens. Yes. And then summer camps are throughout the week, is that correct? Absolutely. Money through Friday are summer camps, absolutely. And that starts from 7.30 a.m. to 6.00 p.m. money through Friday. So truly it's full day? Absolutely, full day. Full day of activities. And meals provided to children at these camps? Absolutely. Meals are provided to our summer camps so all that will be available so we'll take care of them from that time. From the time they get there to the time they leave, we'll have them taken care of. Okay. If you can share with us a general phone number for parks and recreation if persons have questions? So 803-545-3100 will be the main number that they can call to engage and ask any questions about any of our camps. Anything that we've talked about from summer camps to prime time in the parks or specialty camps, they can call that number and we'll answer any questions that they may have. Okay. And then of course they can find you on our website at ColumbiaSC.gov and it's parts of recreation. You can have your own page and I'm sure they can find that. Anything else that you want to emphasize about summer camps this year or prime time in the parks or any summer activities? I would just say that we want to engage our parents. We want the young people involved. We want them to participate. We have the activities. We have the facilities. But we need the youth there so we can engage them in that safe space. You know, we have these activities scheduled for the entire summer so we're just encouraging our parents to get involved to reach out to us if they have questions because we want to maximize our participation. Okay. All right. I'll hear that. Maximize participation for youth in our community. We're talking summer activities, our summer camps and also prime time in the parks and parts of recreation. We're here with Henry Simon's Assistant City Manager who is with the City of Columbia. Any information called parts of recreation, 545-3100 visit our website at ColumbiaSC.gov and make sure you get your kids involved with summer activities this year.