Alan Horwitz "Sixth Man" Center in Philadelphia uses basketball to teach young students life lessons
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Philadelphia Youth Basketball is using the game to teach young people life lessons. The youth empowerment organization uses basketball to help today's urban youth overcome the most urgent and systemic issues facing underserved communities.
PYB recently celebrated the grand opening of the newly renovated Alan Horwitz "Sixth Man" Center after raising more than $40 million to purchase and fully renovate the 100,000-square-foot facility.
"We're able to service more families of young people and we're able to offer more opportunities and access to young people here at the Sixth Man Center and our PYB program," Ameen Akbar, the Chief Mission Officer of Philadelphia Youth Basketball, said.
Akbar says PYB's neighborhood program serves about 900 young people a year, but with the new building hope to reach more.
"We think we're going to go four times that when we keep our neighborhood-based program and our hub here at the 'Sixth Man' Center," Akbar said.
The new center is a "third place" for the city's youth where they can go for basketball but stay for workforce development, health and wellness programs and so much more.
"The main focus is not just basketball here. We are offering kids a chance to learn business finance. They learn how to deal with their credit. So basically, we're setting kids up for a successful life and not just in sports," said Eric Pendleton, who is the head coach and mentor at The Alan Horwitz "Sixth Man" Center for Philadelphia Youth Basketball.