A six-figure federal grant will allow a teen club that operates from the North Shore Park and Youth Center to add a second teen center in South Beach [Florida].

Last year, Miami Beach's Gang and Drug Prevention Program, known as the Teen Club, used part of a $50,000 federal grant to take members of the club white water rafting in Tennessee.

This year, the group will receive $651,500 from the Department of Justice's Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. ''That's a lot of white water rafting trips,'' joked U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, who, along with Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Shultz, supported the earmark that made the grant possible.

The money will allow the club, which operates out of the North Shore Park and Youth Center, 501 72nd St., to add another site at the 21st Street Recreation Center, 2100 Washington Ave, by the end of this summer.

Teen Club coordinator Willy Priegues said the new center will make it easier for kids living in South Beach to join the club.

The Teen Club keeps about 100 kids ages 12-17 busy after school and on weekends with educational and community service activities. All are students at Nautilus Middle School and Miami Beach Senior High.

''The kids spend about 16 to 20 hours a week with us,'' said Priegues.

The kids are picked up from school and receive help with their homework and participate in sports. On weekends, they take field trips or volunteer in community projects like beach cleanups.

On April 12, Ros-Lehtinen got a first-hand look at where some of the group's funding has gone during a performance of The Streets, a play written and directed by Priegues with feedback from the teens.

The play -- performed by about 10 members of the group -- presented some of the issues that teenagers face, including pregnancy, homosexuality, homelessness, drug abuse, education and racial stereotypes.

''These are obstacles they have to overcome on a daily basis,'' Priegues said, who wrote the play based on the kids' real experiences and ideas.
''Last year's money was used successfully to help kids resist the pressure to use drugs, drop out of school, and stay out of gangs,'' Ros-Lehtinen said afterward.

Miami Beach Mayor Matti Bower commended the congresswoman's efforts. ''I can push and push, but without Ileana pushing for the money, these things couldn't happen,'' she said.

Priegues said the club helps teens avoid obstacles like the ones presented in The Streets. ''They don't have the time to just hang around,'' he said.

''We help off-track kids get back on track,'' he said. ``When you're around good kids, good things happen.''