Parks Seeks Kosciuszko Community Center Members

The Kosciuszko Park pond and community center. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.

Milwaukee County Parks is hosting an open house at Kosciuszko Community Center in a bid to boost membership.

The open house will run nearly 12 hours on Tuesday, Feb. 13, from 8 a.m. to 7:30 p.m., giving visitors full run of the community center and its facilities.

Parks hopes to increase membership at the community center this year through the open house, said Andrea Wallace, Assistant Director of Recreation and Business Services. Membership offers full access to all the amenities, classes and activities that are offered at the community center.

“It’s a great safe place to recreate and to get your kids into sports and expose them to different sports, whether it be karate or boxing or basketball,” Wallace said. “And just to get to know other people in the community who utilize the facility.”

During the past two years, Parks has invested in new equipment for the weight room, recently ordering some new cardio machines, Wallace said. Along with the regular weight room there is also a women-only weight room.

The weight room and the gym are big draws for the community center, but it also holds family events year-round, often tied to holidays. The Milwaukee Christian Center runs after-school programming at Kosciuszko for children ages 7 to 19, including tutoring, help with homework, fitness and games.

Membership fees are highly affordable compared to those charged by private health clubs and gyms. The cost for a full year of membership is comparable to the cost of one month of membership at most other private clubs. For example, one year of membership for an adult is $56 annually; for a family of four it’s $113.

For the past several years, Parks has planned for the future of the community center. The department plans to pursue rehabilitation and expansion projects, including two new additions, in the coming years. General plans for the redevelopment include a bigger weight room, a new boxing and mixed martial arts facility, a renovated gymnasium, a dancing and fitness classroom, a new kitchen for cooking classes, new classrooms, maker space, rooms for tutoring, drop-in childcare, a food pantry, wellness space and social services offices to connect residents with resources and assistance.