Charles A. Melton Arts & Education Center
Center for personal, professional, cultural, and spiritual growth for the entire community.
501 E Miner St, West Chester, PA 19382
Phone: 610.692.9290
Fax: 610.692.8213 camc5011@verizon.net
Directions
Phone: 610.692.9290
Fax: 610.692.8213 camc5011@verizon.net
Directions
Thank you for your continued support of the Melton Center!
The annual Melton Center Summer Basketball League registration time is here! All pertinent information about the league can be found below. Click on the link for the registration form: Summer_Basketball_Registration_Form
Jazzercise
Burn up to 600 calories in one fun and powerfully effective 60-minute total body workout. Every Jazzercise group fitness class combines dance-based cardio with strength training and stretching to sculpt, tone and lengthen muscles for maximum fat burn. Choreographed to today’s hottest music, Jazzercise is a fusion of jazz dance, resistance training, Pilates, yoga, and kickboxing. Start dancing yourself fit and change the shape of your body today!
Jazzercize meets on Mondays and Wednesdays at 6:30 PM and Saturdays at 9AM at the Charles A. Melton Center.
Improving habitat through community involvement
Authored by William R. Hartman on November 28, 2012
Grantee Audubon Pennsylvania makes a difference for habitat and communities
As part of our TogetherGreen project (an Early Successional Shrub Habitat awareness initiative), we held a workday on November 6th with about 20 children ffrom the Charles A. Melton Arts & Education Center in West Chester, PA. The Melton Center is a community center that provides educational, recreational, cultural, and civic services to the greater West Chester community. The children who helped us on the that day were part of the Melton Center’s New Directions program, which provides local students with after-school academic skill building support.
With the help of several adults, the kids planted a number of native shrubs as part of a demonstration site at the Willistown Conservation Trust’s Rushton Woods Preserve. It was an amazing day—transformational, I think, for many of the kids (and adults too!) who live in an urbanized setting and have had very few opportunities to get outside and learn about the environment. The participants also had the opportunity to visit the Trust’s bird-banding station, where many of them were able to hold a bird or see one up close before releasing it back to the wild.
This event was evidence of what a difference TogetherGreen grants can make for communities. Ken Winston, Melton Center’s Executive Director, had this to say about the day: “It was a wonderful and positive experience for the students and staff of the New Directions program. We learned a great deal about birds and their habitat. We arrived cold, but as the trip proceeded, we warmed up because of Audubon Pennsylvania’s and Willistown Conservation Trust’s hospitality and appreciation for wild life and nature. The students were really engaged during the program. I heard one express proudly how he planted nine shrubs for the birds to eat. I watched another gently hold a Blue Jay – an amazing sight to see.”
(Photos: Bill Hartman)
Author:
William R. Hartman
The original article can be found here: http://www.togethergreen.org/blog/improving-habitat-through-community-involvement
West Chester eyes repairs to closed pool after a decade
By JEREMY GERRARD
jgerrard@dailylocal.com
Wednesday, September 26,2012
Efforts have started to repair the public pool at the Charles A. Melton Arts and Education Center in West Chester. The pool has been closed for 10 years. Courtesy photo.
WEST CHESTER – With each summer feeling hotter than the last, an effort to reopen the public pool at the Charles A Melton Arts and Education Center is under way, 10 years after it was closed.
According to center Fund-raising Chairman Mark Stevens, the borough is the only suburban Philadelphia county seat without a public pool.
“It’s a travesty,” Stevens said.
With a goal of opening the pool in time for the summer of 2013, Stevens said supporters hope the facility, located in the 500 block of East Miner Street, will provide the community with another activity and give children a place to exercise.
The center raised $12,500 in 2010 with the help of the community and board of directors to complete a community pool renovation feasibility study. This money was matched by a grant from the state.
In partnership with the West Chester Business Improvement District, the center sent out a request for proposal in 2011 to complete the study. When the bids were in, Friday’s Architects of Philadelphia was selected to design the upgrades.
In the study, it was recommended the pool and recreation areas at the center be renovated, including a new pool house, refreshment area, enlarged outdoor basketball courts and bleachers for the courts. Total costs for the proposed renovations are estimated at $1.6 million. Fund-raising for the project has already begun, though Stevens said they first want to get the pool into working order before doing any broader renovations.
Construction on the borough community center began in 1934 and was renamed after Charles A. Melton in 2004. Melton served as director of the center from 1966 to 1980 and is remembered for his contributions to the Civil Rights movement and improving race relations in the borough.
As an initial step toward the pool project, the center announced it has accepted the offer of volunteer maintenance support from West Chester’s Elam Pools.
Lisa Dorsey, chairwoman of the center’s board of directors, thanked Tom Elam and General Manager Kyle Elam for the help, commending their efforts and calling their willingness to lead invaluable. Over the past several weekends, the company has donated equipment to the center and aided in the pool area cleanup. Knox Rentals of West Chester has also donated to the project.
Operating as a family business since 1976, Tom Elam said the company got involved to provide more options for the children in town.
“Hopefully it will keep some kids off the street and out of trouble during the day,” Elam said.
Mostly donating their knowledge and expertise in the area of pools, Tom Elam said the company is excited to be working with the current board, which is taking the center in the right direction and improving the community.
Stevens echoed Elam and lauded the efforts the board has made to improve the center, citing its current youth enrichment programs and a new commercial grade kitchen.
“There are a lot of success stories but we are nowhere near where we need to be. We should be busy 24-7,” Stevens said.
For more information or to find out how to get involved, contact Mark Stevens at markwstevens@verizon.net.
Now accepting applications for new students and tutors to be part of the New Directions Program!
New student application: ND student registration 12-13
Tutoring flyer and application below:
On Sunday August 19, 2012 from 11AM to 6PM, the Charles A Melton Arts and Education Center (formerly the West Chester Community Center) in West Chester held its 2nd Annual CommUnity Day and 1st Annual Dessert Contest. The day was very well attended by hundreds of people and dignitaries from the community including but not limited to Senator Andrew Dinniman and Borough Council Member Cassandra Jones. 
The event included live music from Aniya and Paula Scutnick who graced the attendees with more than 2 hours of live jazz and blues. There where vendors selling jewelry, artwork and plenty of food. The Melton Center unveiled the concept drawings for the renovated outdoor public pool and showcased the Growing Examples community gardens and summer basketball league programs.
The Dessert contest included more than 20 restaurant and individual entrants. The desserts were professionally displayed before being judged on presentation, taste and texture by 7 judges: Lisa Dorsey, President, Melton Center Board; Kim Davis of Sweet Jazmine’s Bakery in Berwyn; Susan Tiernan, West Chester Area School Distrist Board member, Pastor Tiffany Lett-Martin, Bethel African Methodist Episcopal; State Senator Andrew Dinniman. Sharon Webster’s delicious coconut cake won first place in the individual contest while Cornell McMillan’s homemade ice cream was a very close second. High Street Café won first place in the restaurant contest with a wonderful Tiramisu that tasted like it had been delivered directly from Italy. 
CommUnity Day would not have been possible or successful without the tireless efforts and countless hours of Executive Director of the Melton Center, Kenneth Winston, Administrative Assistant Renee Washington, Staff member Emory Richardson and several volunteers including Antonia Keg, Joe Fina, Mallory Showalter and Duckie Paskins. The Board of Directors would also like to thank the following vendors, sponsors and organizations for their participation in making CommUnity Day a success:
21 Square, Jimmy Davis Catering , Juan Terrero Face Painting, Peoples Light Theatre, Peace of Pizza, Jimmy Sprinkles, Connielou’s Design Jewelry, Pan Afrikan Entertainment , Levette’s Jewelry, Chester County Historical Society, Chester County Opportunites Industrialization Center, Sankofa Academy, West Chester Business Improvement District, Minding your Mind, East Bradford Democrats, Chesco League of Woman Voters, Willistown Conservation Trust, Elks of West Chester , West Chester NAACP, State Office of Senator Andrew Dinniman , Chester County Maternal & Childcare Healthcare Consortium, West Chester Area Education Association, Peace A Pizza, Cruisin’Style Barber Parlor, Penn’s Table, Limoncello, Mediterranean Restaurant, Kiwi Frozen Yogurt, Cakes & Candies by Maryellen , Mabels Barbeque, Roots Café, Vudu Lounge, Riggtown Oven, Little Scarlet’s, Olive Branch, Hilary’s Cookies, Dolly’s Dish, Giant, Acme, Donald Lindsay and Sweet Jazmine’s Bakery.
CommUnity Day was a true display of what is possible when communities come together because it Matters.
Sincerely
Lisa Dorsey
President, Board of Directors
Charles A Melton Arts and Education Center
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About
- The Mission of the historic Charles A Melton Arts and Education Center is to contribute to the quality of life for all people of the greater West Chester community by continuing its long commitment of providing educational, recreational, cultural and civic services.
Learn More
- The Mission of the historic Charles A Melton Arts and Education Center is to contribute to the quality of life for all people of the greater West Chester community by continuing its long commitment of providing educational, recreational, cultural and civic services.
Learn More
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