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‘It was well-attended, but run down.’ Diamond Hill Community Center wraps up renovation

KERA | By Cristian ArguetaSoto | Fort Worth Report

Published November 2, 2023 at 2:49 PM CDT

The Diamond Hill Community Center was renovated after the passage of the 2018 bond plan. Now, the center will feature new facilities, including a dance room, a front lawn for events and concerts, new classrooms and a fitness center. Coordinator Raul Meza said the center offers a place for children who don’t have anything else to do after school.

Community center employees and construction workers shuffled around inside the Diamond Hill Community Center, 1700 N.E. 37th St., finishing tasks like hanging punching bags and clearing up trash Nov. 1.

The community center concluded its renovations and will host a ribbon-cutting ceremony Nov. 4, to celebrate. Diamond Hill Community Center Coordinator Raul Meza said he’s been on board with the project since a 2018 city bond election funded the renovation.

“I was able to be a part of it every step of the way,” he said. “We relied on community input and what they thought, and what they thought would benefit them.”

The revitalized community center will have a new boxing ring and punching bags, a dance room, a renovated gym with volleyball courts, basketball courts and a pickleball court, a room equipped with gaming systems and pool tables, and a fitness room with weights and cardio equipment.

Fort Worth ISD District 9 Trustee Roxanne Martinez has been an advocate for the renovations since before the bond was approved in 2018.

“To see it finally open is incredible,” she said.

A new 20- by 20-foot boxing ring was installed inside the renovated Diamond Hill Community Center. The boxing program was founded in the 1960s, Raul Meza, the center’s coordinator, said. At one point, the city of Fort Worth wanted to do away with the program, but community members and parents advocated against its removal, Gilbert Magallon, who heads the Diamond Hill boxing program, said.

The new Diamond Hill boxing ring will be accompanied by 10 punching bags. The Diamond Hill boxing program is important to the community, Gilbert Magallon, the program coordinator, said. “In this area, too, there are a lot of kids that need an outlet. We try to give them something to do,” Raul Meza, the Diamond Hill Community Center coordinator, said. “You hear those stories about, ‘This saved my life,’ and a lot of times it’s true. You get good kids who want to be in gangs and this gives them an outlet.”

A new fitness area will be available to Diamond Hill residents. Raul Meza, the Diamond Hill Community Center coordinator, said he hand-picked all of the equipment in order to give patrons diverse workout options.

A new gym inside the Diamond Hill Community Center has a pickleball court as well as volleyball and basketball courts. The center will open to the public on Nov. 4 after its ribbon cutting ceremony.

The communications and volunteer coordinator with Fort Worth Park & Recreation, Karen Stuhmer, said the Diamond Hill Community is one of the most niche centers with its boxing program. But it needed renovation, she said.

“It was well-attended, but run down. The building needed work,” Stuhmer said. “It was well-used, but it was just dark and it had seen better days.”

Martinez will continue to advocate for the Diamond Hill community, she said.

“The new center will be a tremendous asset to the Diamond Hill community and residents,” she said.

Cristian ArguetaSoto is the community engagement journalist at the Fort Worth Report. Contact him by emailor via Twitter. At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.

This article first appeared on Fort Worth Report and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.