It's midnight on Thursday in the northern Jerusalem neighborhood of Neveh Yaakov. Most residents have gone to bed, but music is blasting from the local community center. About 80 middle- and high-school students, a couple of weeks into summer vacation, danced, swam in the pool and enjoyed the plentiful snacks at the "matnas."

The light, joyous atmosphere at the center stood in sharp contrast to the typical image of the neighborhood, especially among its residents. "The threshold of violence recently rose in the neighborhood," says 17-year-old Zohar Maman. She is one of the people behind a program that seeks to provide a safe nighttime activity for area teens during the summer. "Children close to us were recently hurt by violent teens," she says. "We don't feel safe in the neighborhood. There's a feeling here that if you don't have someone who can watch your back, you won't survive."

Neveh Yaakov's youth coordinator for the Israel Association of Community Centers (IACC), Daniel Hertz, says that economic reasons, as well as safety issues, are behind the initiative. "Neveh Yaakov is the northernmost neighborhood of Jerusalem," Hertz points out, adding that residents don't always have the means to travel to the capital's downtown entertainment district and back.

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It's hard to say whether that is the reason the local teens are going for the local option. They primarily seem to be enjoying the well-funded venue within walking distance from home. Sharon is wearing a uniform of the Working and Studying Youth movement, a partner in the initiative. "We decided that this summer we had to 'lift up' the neighborhood so people wouldn't say and think that Neveh Yaakov is a crummy neighborhood," the 14-year-old Sharon explains. "The kids need to realize that summer vacation isn't only about sleeping in all day or wandering the streets."

The community center will be open a few times a week at night this summer, and it is not the only one: Every week, community centers throughout the country, in both poor and wealthy neighborhoods, are opening their doors at night to provide, for a token fee, an alternative for teens loitering and wandering around. IACC, which has been running the late-night program for the last three years, attracted 250,000 youth to its "white night" events last year. This year, about 100 community centers are involved, charging NIS 10 and usually staying open from 10:30 P.M. until the early morning.

In Ramot, another northern Jerusalem neighborhood, last week's "white night" event was less successful, attracting only a few dozen teens - apparently due to the matriculation exam in biology held the following day. N., a 16-year-old who asked to remain anonymous, is well aware of what the late-night option means to him. "Last year I was one of those who wandered around the neighborhood all night," he says. "We didn't have anything to do and couldn't go downtown. At some point I got a grip and realized it couldn't continue that way. Then someone suggested I come to the events held at the pool, and I've been coming ever since."

One of the organizers in Neveh Yaakov, 17-year-old Anna Chichishvilli, is convinced that teens will prefer community center activities over bars and nightclubs. "Clubs are places of entertainment, but they have problems like drugs and alcohol. There's none of that here." Chichishvilli says the community center's activities are part of a broader initiative by neighborhood youth that includes summer camp and trips in cooperation with organizations such as the IACC and youth movements.