By Daniel Barbarisi

Journal Staff Writer

Karen Nencka, a teacher at the Highlander School, says "This room is beautiful now!" as she admires the refurbished basketball court at the just opened Elmwood Community Center at 155 Niagara St. in Providence.

The Providence Journal / Bob Thayer

PROVIDENCE — The surprise closing of the Elmwood Community Center at 155 Niagara St. last fall was a punch in the gut to the neighborhood, which depended on it as a place to gather and connect with the activities and social resources available.

Its ceremonial reopening yesterday afternoon, against all odds, was almost sweet enough to make the entire saga worthwhile.

“For all of us here, it was a really trying time when the center was closed. … We cannot afford to see a building like this closed for too long,” said state Sen. Juan Pichardo, with the newly repainted center behind him and a crowd of more than 60 people in front, applauding.

The Elmwood Community Center closed in June 2007 when state health inspectors found mold in the building, and recommended that the city-owned building be closed. But the problems that led to its closing ran far, far deeper than mold, including financial difficulties, a lack of preventative maintenance, an unmotivated staff and poor programming by the management group then in place, according to those involved with the center.

Now, summer basketball leagues, social services and after-school activities are back at the center, which was rescued by a partnership of the city, Providence Community Action, the Highlander School, and sponsors GTECH, Aramark and City Year.

“This wasn’t easy to do. It took a lot of time and effort. I’m really excited and happy to see the center open again and serving the community,” said City Councilman Miguel Luna, who represents the area.

Once the center shut down, Providence Community Action director Frank Corbishley went to Providence Mayor David N. Cicilline and proposed that ProCAP take over and rehabilitate the center. The community centers across the city were once all administered by ProCAP and the organization felt a certain responsibility to the centers. ProCAP also had programs ready to go that could be moved from other area sites to the center with little interruption.

“The argument I made was that everyone else would have had to go out and start from scratch,” Corbishley said.

“There was no way, I think, that a new corporation could have been started and raised hundreds of thousands of dollars to get this center up and running,” he said.

Cicilline threw his support behind the plan, eager for the neighborhood children to have a safe and productive place to go.

“Our responsibility to kids in this city is from the moment they open their eyes in the morning until they go to bed at night,” Cicilline said.

The city owns the 16,000-square-foot building, and had leased it to the Elmwood Community Center for $1 since 1976.

Providence Community Action reopened the center gradually, beginning with a small food pantry and some case-management services in December 2007. Then in January of this year, it started major renovations on the building, ripping up the moldy kitchen, repainting walls and tearing up old carpet. ProCAP’s maintenance crew worked on the center for months, and paid at least $30,000 in direct expenses to contractors and for materials.

By June, the center was offering a fully stocked food pantry, low-income home heating assistance, adult education and English as a Second Language programs, a clothing closet, summer camp, a health van and access to ProCAP’s anti-poverty assistance programs.

Yesterday, the doors of most rooms showed before-and-after pictures comparing the old center to the new.

But the biggest draw at yesterday’s ceremonial opening was the just-completed GTECH After-School Advantage Computer Center, a room featuring eight new computers outfitted with educational software, created for $15,000 by the Providence-based lottery equipment company. The center is the 10th of 30 that GTECH is creating across Providence as part of the 2004 property tax deal it received from the city to build its new American headquarters downtown.

On a tour of the center yesterday, Cicilline entered the computer room and did his part to get the city’s youth to learn a little more about Providence. He walked up to one computer, where an 8-year-old was playing a game, and started trying to type in the address for the city’s Web site.

“I was going to play Super Mario,” said a clearly disappointed Marcus Vazquez, a third grader at the Highlander Charter School.

“Don’t you want to go to the City of Providence Web site?” Cicilline asked, perhaps setting himself up for failure.

“Can’t I wait like 50 years?” Vazquez replied.

Marshaling the political skills honed over years in the legislature and six years as mayor, Cicilline countered: “No, you want to go now.”

Vazquez seemed to relent, and pulled his hands from the keyboard. Then he looked up at the mayor, clearly seeing his chance. “You owe me five bucks, mister.”

Cicilline admitted defeat.

“Oh, you can go back to the game,” Cicilline said, and walked across the room to see if he could get some other students to look up the number of city departments. It took the offer of a prize — a book and some pizza — but soon the mayor was surrounded by children chirping what he said was the correct answer: 24.

dbarbari@projo.com