[YL] attracting teens::responses

Fri Jun 2 16:37:30 EDT 2006

hello everyone

A while ago I sent a request about attracting teens...since then, I've 
gotten some responses below.
A few people asked me to post the responses to the list...they are copied 
below.
Have a good weekend!
matt

===============================================

Matt:  We are a youth development program that services both Latinos and
African-American youth.  I would be happy to talk with you.  Check out
what we do at www.hopeworks.org.
Jeff Putthoff, SJ
jeff at hopeworks.org

My name is Kristin Flores and I am the coordinator at the Moonridge 
Clubhouse in Half Moon Bay, CA.  Our Clubhouse is in a prominent Latino 
neighborhood.  I will try and answer your questions... please scroll down to 
see my answers.
1.  Are any tech centers located in Latio areas. Yes
2.  Have any tech centers had success attracting teens?  How
specifically
did you do this?Yes I feel that our clubhouse has been pretty successful in 
attracting Teens.  However, our clubhouse is located in the housing 
development where they live.
3. Would you be willing to talk with me or another ymca staff person
about  how you did this?  Yes, I also work for the YMCA, call me my  number 
is
650-560-4889
kristinflores at yahoo.com

If I remember correctly YMCA funded a program called (YO!)Youth
Opportunity.  We had the program in collaberation with a few of our
clubs.  This program recently ended because of funding reasons but they
had a whole training series on how to attract Teen's to the club.  We
ourselves (Boys & Girls Clubs) have a few programs specifically to make
it more intriguing for them to attend.  You can contact me anytime if
you would like to discuss some ideas.

Thanks,

Jorge Vera
I.T. Manager
Boys & Girls Clubs of Tampa Bay, Inc.
1307 N MacDill Avenue
Tampa FL 33607
Direct Line: (813) 769-7529
Metro Office #: (813) 875-5771
Fax: (813) 875-4428
Email: jvera at bgctampa.org
Website: www.bgctampa.org

Matt, I am up in Salem MA in a Latino neighborhood.  I have about 35
teens registered in our program and get about 20 - 25 daily and I have no
athletic facilities!

This is the 3rd year of the program and most of my kids are the younger
teens (13 - 15).  When I started, I had trouble attracting the high
schoolers so I started with the middle school and as they got older they
continued to come (and brought their friends). I am going to be
interested
to see if they continue to come as they move into their sophomore year.

We are very academic-oriented so the kids who come here are
self-selecting. That's not to say we have all Einstein's here but for the 
most part we
have kids who want and need help in their homework. Activities we have here
include:

1. Digital arts - we have digital music software, video and photography
along with all the Adobe products and instruction in web design and
photoshop.
2. We teach PC repair for those more intersted in the hardware
3. We have other science activies - electricity, robots, etc.
4. We also do career stuff inviting speakers from different types of
companies.
5. I try to get the older kids jobs when I can

If I had more space and money, I know other activities that would
attract teens are culinary arts and music.  I would get a keyboard or guitar
donated and recruit a volunteer.

WE also have a points system -- kids earn points based on academic
improvement, participation in activities, field trips, etc.  THey cash
points in for money or prizes.
With a Y facility you have the benefit of being able to offer athletic
facilities but this can also be a distraction.  I know that some of my
kids say that they sometimes go to the Y to play basketball but come to
CyberSpace when they need homework help, even though the Y also offers
homework help.

I would be happy to talk to anyone.

>Linda E. Saris
>Director
>Salem CyberSpace
>(978) 740-6667 (office)
>(781) 696-0899 (cell)
>lsaris at salemcyberspace.org
>www.salemcyberspace.org
>

Our CTC is in the Chinatown/Lower East Side neighborhood, with
substantial Latino and Chinese populations.  We also would like to attract 
more
teens, and I am trying to figure out the same thing you are.

What I have observed so far:
--Youth service organizations in the neighborhood that successfully
recruit teens and pre-teens pay a stipend to the youth for attending.  
Usually
it comes with various attachments: you must attend a certain number of
days, you must attend a variety of subjects (academic, group "chats" on
subjects like HIV/AIDS, cultural).  We offer a computer refurbishing 
workshop to
a group of teens who are in a work readiness program that pays for
attendance, thus we have good attendance.
--Places that offer services for the whole family/community get
well-known, and thus become the place that people go to.  Thus, we get more 
folks
from the Asian community, another center gets more folks from the Latino
community -- people come to us or another organization based on where
they sign up for food stamps, apply for housing, etc.
--By offering classes that are in another language (or at least staff
people who can communicate in another language), we get many recent 
immigrants.
We try to reach out to ESL programs in schools, etc, to target bilingual
kids, and they are more likely to try us out, since my staff speaks 
Fujiense,
Mandarin, and Cantonese.

Let would appreciate if you could share (on of off list) what else you
learn,

Good luck,

--Elizabeth
elizabeth wilson <elizabeth_wilson at aafe.org

We have a CTC in a neighborhood of primariliy Latino youth (especially 
recently arrived immigrants) and some African American students as well.  We 
attract youth with an open computer lab, email, online music, multimedia 
production, concerts, field trips, lots of word of mouth, homework and 
finals assistance, etc.
Sue Cole <sucole at hotmail.com

==================================
Matt Crichton
CyberY Developer
YMCA Boston/Training, Inc.
18 Tremont St.; Suite 400
Boston, MA  02108
617-542-1800 x32
mcrichton at ymcaboston.org
bigchainring at hotmail.com
Cyber Y: http://www.cyberyboston.org/
Personal: http://www20.brinkster.com/bigchainring/index.htm
AmeriCorps VISTA 2000-2002 (Seattle, Boston)

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