HARBOR CITY, Calif. — The CA$H Skate Team went for a test run on their brand new skate park in Harbor City that officially opened Friday.

The grand opening was huge because this moment has literally been more than five years in the making. 

You see the crew of about 15 deep all between the ages of 16 to 22 spent the last five years lobbying for a skate park in their city.

Their patience, perseverance, and drive have paid off because their vision is now a reality.

“It’s mind-blowing. I still can’t believe it sometimes," said Emilio Otero. "I come here, I look at it, I still can’t believe it’s here. It’s like a dream, it’s a dream come true.” 

That dream was spearheaded by Otero. 

When they were younger, they had to go outside of Harbor City to find a skate park.

Late nights on the bus weren’t optimal or safe, and they wanted to create a better future for the next generation of skateboarders, and they can already see it. 

“When you see these little kids skating the bowl and they’re actually better than I’ll probably ever be, or even better than I was at 14 years old it just looks like, Wow you’re actually changing these kids lives for the better," said Richard Ortiz.

Changing lives for the better is all a part of who they are. 

Two of them sit on the neighborhood council, and they all work with the local nonprofit City Lights Gateway Foundation in helping get the youth jobs. 

“We’ve been very involved in the community a lot, and we’re not going to stop," Otero said.

City Lights Gateway Foundation was named No. 1 nonprofit for the year in the South Bay area where Emilio and CA$H Skate Teammate Raven Taylor got to visit the state capital. 

“Just winning that award is really big for us, because we’re so young, we were the youngest people in there, and it was a great experience," said Raven Taylor.

As the excitement builds, their hard work paid off for their big moment, all taking place on Go Skateboarding Day.

They have a message for all of you: “Happy Go Skate Day. Come skate at the Ca$h skate park.”