This bustling community center in the Elmwood section of West Hartford serves the entire town with a wide array of classes, leisure activities, trips and special events; it hosts a senior center as well. Elmwood's facilities include an auditorium, a full-sized gym, a billiards room, a dance studio, a pottery and ceramics studio, a library, a lounge, classrooms of various sizes and two kitchens. The facility is also available for rent for events ranging from weddings to business seminars.
This is the local office for the international YMCA. The office doesn't have facilities of its own but registers users for classes and programs at locations around town. Services include health and fitness, sports, aquatics, child care, summer camps and arts programs.
Hillcrest Area Neighborhood Outreach Center is a program focusing on students and their parents. It is supported by the West Hartford Department of Social Services, the Board of Education, Hopeworks, Westminster Church and the Bridge Family Center. Programs include an after-school homework effort, a parent group, middle-school social skills development and The West Hartford Board of Education Post Graduate Special Needs project. Social workers provide assessment, information, referrals and assistance to families on food, clothing, child care, finances, transportation, job training, careers, mental health and substance abuse.
The senior center in Bishop's Corner is one of two senior centers in West Hartford. This one shares a building with the Bishop's Corner branch of the town library and serves the north end of town.
The center offers a wide variety of classes, programs, trips, sports, social services and preventive health care. The center also coordinates with social services to provide help for seniors with special needs.
Members must be 55 and older and pay a $25 annual membership fee, but programs are open to non-members as well. Some additional fees for trips may apply.
The Learning Or Leisure (L.O.L) Club of West Hartford offers students a place to receive after-school tutoring and engage in recreational activities; the building which houses the club's facilities was formerly the location of the Noah Webster Library. The Club's two main floors feature computer areas and small classrooms dedicated to subjects such as English, math, science, history, Spanish and French. The staff at the LOL Club assist students in their homework and can provide targeted supplemental education to bolster each student's academic prowess. The basement houses the large recreation room, which has foosball tables, ping pong tables, couches and a number of Mac computers. Weekends at the LOL Club are devoted entirely to workshops, which can include such topics as yoga, creative writing and web design.