Roseland Clubhouse an Investment in Santa Rosa Community

Leading a tour of the newly opened Roseland Community Clubhouse, where rooms for studying, play and guidance are named for benefactors and purposes, Magali Telles stopped at one looking out over Sebastopol Road.

The west Santa Rosa neighborhood’s main artery bustled with food trucks and traffic, pedestrians and restaurants and markets, an elementary school and small businesses ranging from hair salons to florists to auto parts stores.

The room doesn’t have an official name yet, but Telles likes to think of it as “The Room With a View.” As vice president of Youth Impact for the Boys & Girls Club of Sonoma-Marin, she was charged with opening the $17 million club this month.

“It’s a view of all the wonderful vibrant activity that happens there,” said Telles.

That view is a fitting stand in for what the new club offers: a vision of and for a vital neighborhood filled with aspirations and striving that for years was in many ways overlooked and under appreciated. Now, a 25,000 square-foot building, brightly themed in purple, teal, orange and green, has been built around the needs of Roseland’s youth.

“It's incredibly important because it's validation of who we are as people, of who this community is, of all the rich flavor and all of the exciting things that come with being part of Roseland culture,” said Telles. “I think it’s important for that to be celebrated on a daily basis in a way that's educational, in a way that is going to really kind of help propel us forward in any way possible.”

The club opened its doors June 5 to about 330 youth a day, ages 11 to 17 years old. It includes a full-size commercial kitchen, a teen center, a dance studio and an art and science/technology lab, among other amenities.

Officials say the new facility will allow the organization to serve 2,500 youth within a year, up from the 1,000 it currently serves in the Roseland neighborhood through four after-school programs.