It's been a rough ride for the Latin American Youth Center in its bid to build housing for at-risk youth–along with a branch of the YouthBuild charter school–at the now-empty J.F. Cook School on P Street just off North Capitol. After getting support from the Fenty Administration and funding from both public and private sources, [...]

Back in 2008, after the closure of 23 public schools, the District awarded J.F. Cook Elementary at 1st and P Streets NW to two entities: the public charter school YouthBuild, which helps kids who haven't been successful in traditional school settings to learn trades, and the Latin American Youth Center, which planned to build apartments [...]