.Best Place to Drop Off the Kids

Are your teens just hanging around the house, staring at their devices? Are you starting to wonder if they have any “real” friends, and if Sweet_Thang on Instagram is really a ninety-year-old woman in Kalamazoo? It’s time to send them over to REACH. Accessible by AC Transit buses (32, 93, 99, and 801), REACH is open for youth ages 11-24, Monday through Friday from noon to 8 p.m. And the place is rocking! It’s a 3,200-square-foot, state-of-the-art building designed by youth, with a skateboard park, music studio, gym, library, health and dental clinics, video games, café, and more. Located in unincorporated Ashland, sort of between San Leandro and San Lorenzo, REACH is a full-service youth center run by Alameda County Healthcare Services Agency. On any given day, your teen or twenty-something could be found dancing, drawing, reading quietly in a nook, or doing alley-oops out back. The energy of the place is off-the-charts good. REACH is open to any Alameda County resident. And it’s always free, always safe, always cool.