This recreation center is named after the neighborhood volunteer group who conceived and…read moreconstructed the facility in June 2000: Astoria Residents Reclaiming Our World (A.R.R.O.W.). Situated next to a community garden, ARROW is a recreation center that offers innovative cultural and educational programs for children. The Center Manager for ARROW describes the facility as "small but extremely vibrant."
For parents with infants and toddlers, ARROW provides classes that meet three times for an eight week program. Following the guidelines mandated by the New York State Department of Health, there is space for 20 participants in each class. However, these classes are rarely over-enrolled and there is always room to register. Created for children 18 months to two years, the Gymboree program is an energetic movement class. The Tiny Tots class, for the two to four year old age group, offers a more academic curriculum of singing and dancing, learning the alphabet, counting numbers, and arts and crafts.
Like the after school programs at the other recreation centers throughout New York City, the structured after school program at ARROW gives children from six to thirteen years of age a safe and encouraging place in which to grow intellectually, physically, and emotionally. All city after school programs must conform to the School-Age Child Care Regulations of New York State, which ensures that there is one staff member to every three students.
ARROW's after school students meet Monday through Friday from 3:00 to 6:00 pm. The center does not provide transportation for the after school program but can connect parents with private operators who can bus children into the facility.
ARROW's after school curriculum runs the gamut of interesting activities ranging from homework help to learning art forms from other cultures. To get exercise, kids can receive instruction in playing basketball, kickball, volleyball, and soccer. All New York City recreation centers participate in sports tournaments within the boroughs and citywide. ARROW also has a separate room with eleven PC's and three iMacs where children can do their homework and enhance their computer skills.
A Latin American artist living in Queens visits ARROW to give art classes to after school kids. Another cross-cultural class offered is capoeira, an Afro-Brazilian art form that combines elements of martial arts, games, music, and dance. A local percussionist and composer, comes to the center to teach guitar and percussion instruments. At the end of this six week course, students give performances and create DVD's of their own music.
The teen program at the center convenes afternoons and evenings where participants can receive instruction in basketball, capoeira, guitar, and computer and video editing. ARROW hosts many free events to the public throughout the year such as a Halloween Haunted House, an Thanksgiving feast, and a Cinco de Mayo celebration.
