Youth Leadership: The Youth Center
Helping Today’s Youth Become Tomorrow’s Leaders

The Youth Center staff helps the youth of today become the leaders of tomorrow, providing free activities, positive adult supervision, academic support, and creative and recreational resources. Youth learn about themselves and the world in a safe environment, helping them to grow and thrive in our community. A broad range of programming includes:

Education and Learning Support – Help with homework, tutoring, and school projects is offered daily by current and retired teachers, social work interns, trained volunteers and paid staff who provide one-on-one guidance to students.

College Access and Employment – College Access activities work to accomplish the essential task of preparing youth for post-secondary education opportunities and providing resources to support them in their educational search process. Youth are exposed to post-secondary training and careers, general college admissions requirements, financial aid/scholarship opportunities and eligibility guidelines, and more. Staff work with participants on career exploration, academic preparation, selecting post-secondary education, financial aid options, and more. We strive to uncover and cultivate each youth’s strengths and interests in preparation for future opportunities.

Health and Wellness – Many children who regularly attend Youth Leadership activities also face hunger issues and their families visit the Food Shelf. Cooking classes, organic gardening, and nutritious snacks coupled with healthy exercise
reinforce the message that eating healthy and being responsible for the care of one’s body is important to a young person’s growth and development.

Leadership – Program staff members lead monthly service projects that youth are encouraged to help design, plan and execute. We thoughtfully work to enhance youths’ understanding of their values and emotions, while providing safe opportunities to exercise their decision making and problem solving skills.

Arts – Youth enjoy exposure to arts activities, such as photography, cultural dance, music, and more.

Success Story

Developing Young Voices through Art, Music & Video
Through a unique collaboration between Neighborhood House, Animating Democracy, and American Public Media Public Insight Journalism initiative at Minnesota Public Radio, young people in the Neighborhood House Youth Leadership program used art to capture the effects of the recession on them and their families.

At first, talk of the recession barely registered with 13-year- old QocTavia Shabazz. “When I think of the economy, I relate that to politics, government,” she says. “I think, ‘That’s not my problem. Why do I have to deal with it?’ But it is my problem.”  Her perspective changed after Twin Cities artists worked with QocTavia and three other teens to connect the economy with their personal lives and express those experiences through song and video.

Teens interviewed other young people and creatively transformed what they heard and learned. The artists helped these young people make sense of the economy’s devastating impact on their lives through art. The stories are telling and sometimes sad, but also full of hope for the future. Helping youth develop a voice now gives them the tools they need to participate in conversations like this one as adults, in the future.

Eligibility

To learn more about and become involved in Youth Center activities, please contact Youth Leadership Manager John Guertin at jguertin@neighb.org or 651-789-2517.