Marilyn Cox has been offering free dance lessons to at-risk girls for the last seven years, but she says the city’s new fee schedule may close down her free program forever.
Community groups and volunteers like Cox are receiving the bad news that effective immediately individuals, children, and groups will have to pay to use the city’s community centers.
Center directors have recently begun informing groups that use the centers that the new charges will now apply.
Cox operates the only free dance classes for young girls in the city. Three times a week, Cox offers free dance lessons to about 30 low-income girls. She charges no fees and has been able to maintain her program because community centers were free. The city’s new fee schedule will mean Cox will have to pay $600 a month to the city.
Cox meets at the Benoit Recreation Center.
Cox offers the free classes for girls whose…
