"This was my home growing up," the 20-year-old Phoenix College student said about her work at the center, which is run by Chicanos Por La Causa Inc.

Mothers Against Gangs, housed in an old fire station, serves about 300 youngsters. Its goal is to keep kids off the streets by offering them a safe place to hang out.

Chicanos Por La Causa leases the facility for $1 a year from the Phoenix Fire Department. The center functions on $300,000 annually, a large chunk of that from United Way.

Young children play pool, watch television, work on art projects, listen to stories, or climb the ladder and go down the slide in the front yard.

The majority of the youngsters who come to Mothers Against Gangs are Hispanic, although the center caters to all youths. It also offers lessons about life skills and information about domestic violence, drugs and substance abuse, tobacco use, teenage sex and health.

"I don't think our intention is to pull the rug out from under them at all," Assistant Fire Chief Bob Khan said. "It's not a hard-line eviction."

The department would like to use the facility for a minority recruitment station, Khan said. It also needs room to house, among others, minority Valley firefighters and the J.W. Robinson Society, he said.

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