NANAKULI — NFL Pro Bowl players and Commissioner Roger Goodell yesterday joined community leaders in previewing the Hawaii NFL Youth Education Town Center scheduled to open next month at the edge of the Nanaikapono Elementary School campus.

Officials with the Boys & Girls Club of Hawaii, which will manage the 10,000-square-foot facility, say there is a great need in the region for an after-school center and that they expect it will have a great impact on the community.

"I think it's quite needed in that community," said David Nakada, Boys & Girls Club of Hawaii executive director. Area leaders "have been asking us to come in and do this for a while now."

A recent study estimated that as many as 33,000 young families might use the facility, which will include a multimedia facility sponsored by the Forever Young Foundation, a nonprofit organization founded by Hall of Fame quarterback Steve Young.

The site will also include an outdoor amphitheater, native Hawaiian garden, large multi-purpose community room, library, learning center and computer and technology center.

The NFL contributed $1 million toward development and construction of the $5.4 million facility, which sits on a 1.3-acre Department of Hawaiian Home Lands parcel. When it opens next month, the Nanakuli location will be the country's 15th NFL YET center. All are aimed at helping youths in at-risk neighborhoods.

About $3.3 million came from federal and state grants while several corporate foundations also made big contributions, Nakada said. Honolulu Mayor Mufi Hannemann, himself a former Boys & Girls Club member, yesterday presented a $1 million check that came from Community Development and Block Grant monies administered by the city. That amount will go toward the second phase of the project.

What makes the Hawai'i site unique is that it is the only one not in a Super Bowl host city.

"Hawai'i, because of our long relationship with the Pro Bowl, we felt it was appropriate to establish a similar legacy here in Hawai'i because of our relationship and because of the great things that we've been able to do together," Goodell said.

Sunday's Pro Bowl will be the 30th consecutive game to be held at Aloha Stadium, but that arrangement is ending. Next year's game is scheduled to take place in Miami, and Hawai'i's future tie to the Pro Bowl is still uncertain.

'IT TAKES A VILLAGE'

NFL players at yesterday's gathering said they expect the facility will make a difference, but only if the adults in the community step up to help.

Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald said organizations like the Boys & Girls Club played a major role in his development. "They say it takes a village to raise a child, and I'm a firm believer in that," he said.

New York Giants defensive end Justin Tuck challenged the community to lend a hand.

"You need supervisors, you need elders to get involved in these kids' lives," Tuck said. "This building is the first step. I want you guys to be here. When the NFL leaves and the Pro Bowl is over, and we're no longer here, the people that are still going to be here are the ones that are going to make a difference."

The Boys & Girls Club opened a clubhouse facility in Wai'anae in the late 1980s but Nanakuli community leaders explained to Tuck that there was still a great need down the coast, Nakada said.

"We've got five schools in close proximity to each other and we've got all these kids who, after school, really have got nothing to do," he said. "I truly believe that this addition is going to have a huge impact on this community."

KIDS HAD THEIR SAY

One of those people lobbying hard for a facility in Nanakuli was Myron Brumaghim, principal at Nanaikapono for about two decades, who became the chairman of the NFL YET Hawaii Advisory Board.

Brumaghim said he believes the center will be successful in part because area youths were asked to give their input into what they felt should go into it. One of those ideas was the multimedia center.

"The kids aren't going to get paid to come to the Boys & Girls Club, there's no monetary enticement or candy to attract them," Brumaghim said. "You have to build it so that when they come to this building, it fits their needs."

Meanwhile, the ongoing task of developing programs designed to "be interesting and fun at the same time" has been assigned to the YET Center board program committee comprised of area school principals and other key stakeholders.