Standing in Lincoln’s Youth Center, there doesn’t seem to be any obvious difference between the teens sinking into the beanbag chairs and the ones outside playing soccer. Some teens bounce between a group playing video games and a group cooking pasta in the kitchen. They laugh and yell down the hallway to each other.

For some teens, the center is a way to stave off boredom or a place to hang out with friends. For others, it’s a replacement for gang membership.

Police Activities League Executive Director Steve Krueger said too many parents focus only on the teens at the center who have had problems with the law or who have gang ties.

“Parents stop and say, ‘Is it true the Youth Center is for kids who are in trouble with you or who have been arrested by you?’” he said. “People assume all of the kids are in trouble or are all on probation.”

Martin Lopez is a Youth Center regular who first came to the Police Activities League to play baseball. Attending Police Activites League events for five years, he said the Youth Center has a much friendlier atmosphere than Glen Edwards Middle School, where he is in eighth-grade.

“It’s really different,” Martin said. “It’s more friendly and there’s less violence.”

Karen Hernandez, president of ReDirect, a nonprofit organization that works with at-risk youth, said there has never been a fight at the Youth Center.

She said about half of the teens who come to the Youth Center receive help from ReDirect, which provides translation services, helps with job interviews and educates families on other resources they may not know about.

One of those teens is 14-year-old Alejandro Tomas, whose efforts to stay late and clean up the Youth Center count toward his community service.

Alejandro, who has been in juvenile hall five times, has about 42 hours of community service time left from a December weapons-possession charge. Involved in gangs since fifth-grade, Alejandro said he decided to get out after he realized his mother was the only one visiting and writing to him in juvenile hall.

When he was younger, Alejandro said, he looked up to his older brother, a gang member who was recently deported to Mexico. When his 9-year-old brother said he wanted to be just like him, Alejandro knew he had to make a change.

“I try not to show him the things my (older) brother used to do around me,” he said.

A local pastor suggested the Police Activities League. Alejandro said it and the Youth Center have kept him out of trouble.

“If I wasn’t here, I’d be out on the streets doing dirt,” Alejandro said.

Although he first came to the Youth Center at the suggestion of his parole officer, Alejandro said he’ll continue to come after he finishes his community service.

“I enjoy this place,” he said. “I want to see them get more people (to come to the Youth Center).”

Hernandez said she has seen Alejandro’s grades improve since he has attended the center.

“He was basically failing school,” Hernandez said, adding that his most recent report card included four As, two Bs and a C.

Lincoln Councilman Paul Joiner, on the Police Activities League Board of Directors, said it’s common for community members to have misconceptions about youth centers or Boys & Girls Clubs anywhere.

“This (misconception) is not necessarily unique to our youth center,” Joiner said. “But it is limiting the number of kids that we could be servicing in our community. There may be kids who might come but who may not know they’re welcome.”

Joiner said better promotion of the center could help change the center’s image.

“We have to actively get the word out that it’s not solely for at-risk kids,” he said.

Mandy Weaver, Lincoln’s assistant director of recreation, said a visit to the center is the best way to clear up any misconceptions.

“I wish more of the community would go visit and see what’s happening at the Youth Center and talk to the kids,” Weaver said. “They would be pleasantly surprised … There’s a lot of respect there.”

Krueger said the Police Activities League is hoping a series of visits into the community will help residents become more acquainted with the organization. He said the group is planning to expand its “PAL in the Community” program – visits to local apartment complexes and neighborhoods to promote the Police Activities League.

The next event will be in the late spring or early summer, Krueger added.

Joiner said the Police Activities League relies on fundraisers like the upcoming PAL Comedy Night to gain exposure but its best chance to increase visibility might be an increase in programs.

The organization is considering a bid for the $284,000 Local Community Benefit Grant, a county grant designed to “offset the impacts associated with tribal gaming,” according to its official Web site.

Joiner said the proposed bid has not been finalized but will come before the City Council at its Tuesday meeting.