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| School teen center moving to Northland Mall |
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| Wednesday, 27 January 2010 | |
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Cliff Buchan News Editor A collaborative hand-shake agreement between ISD 831 Community Education and Family Pathways will result in a new and expanded teen center. The Forest Lake Teen Center, now located at the Central Learning Center under the direction of district’s community education program, plans to move to Northland Mall where it will be open on Monday, Feb. 1. The new location is the former Mi Casita restaurant space. The move comes under a plan that will allow for an expanded program for junior high and senior high school students, plus extended weekly hours and a summer program. The school program is for junior high school students only and is offered after school Monday through Thursday with no summer program. “The discussions [on the collaboration] started over a year ago,” said Julie O’Neill, teen center planner for ISD 831 Community Education. Bonita Carlson, youth services manager, said the Forest Lake Teen Center is the fourth for Family Pathways which also operates a thrift store at Northland Mall and has a food pantry at Schilling Plaza. Teen centers for youth in grades 7-12 are also open in Stacy, Mora and Sandstone. The consolidation will allow for a “bigger and better program,” Carlson said. Under the new teen center flag, operation hours are 2:30-7 p.m., Monday through Friday and noon to 4 p.m. on Saturday. Summer programing and hours are still being formed. Carlson said a key first step in the new partnership was Family Pathway’s move to offer its DREAM Girls group for teen girls and the “Circle of Friends” program for students with disabilities at the school teen center last year. Julie Ohman, director of community education for the school district, said the collaboration was a positive way to offer more opportunities for kids. Other details As of next Monday, O’Neill and her five community education staff members who work at the teen center, will shift locations to Northland Mall. The school district will provide transportation from schools to the new center. The current junior high programing and activities will remain in place at the new site. Some senior high volunteers will work with the program. Students who wish to use the CLC gym during open gym times on Tuesday and Thursday will also have transportation provided by the school district. Other youth development programs at the CLC facility will remain in place with students paying $35 to enroll. The current program is serving 30 to 50 kids a day now and under the new operation, Carlson said Family Pathways believes those numbers could double. She adds that senior high students would be welcome to utilize the teen center during all of its operational hours. The move to Northland Mall comes at no additional cost to community education, Ohman said. Carlson said Family Pathways is paying the entire $1000 monthly rental for the space at the mall plus utility costs and has committed $17,000 in staffing funds for the teen center operation. Family Pathways staff will be assigned to work with senior high programming, she said. Community education staffing would be needed to work on Friday and Saturday hours and during summer hours, Carlson said. The school program operates with an annual budget of $50,047. According to the district, the program received just over $32,000 in donations from the public and grants and utilized just under $18,000 in supplemental community education dollars to fund the program in 2008-2009. The CLC space that had been used by the teen center is expected to be utilized for other community education after-school enrichment and school programs. Family Pathways will fund the new teen center with proceeds from the thrift store, donations and grants, Carlson said. Future? How long the new teen center can remain in the mall is not certain. Under its new ownership group, the mall is still scheduled for a major redevelopment as the new Marketplace Foods home. That project has no set start date, but if it begins, the teen center spot would be taken. What happens then? “Time will tell,” Carlson said. “We’ve looked at a couple of sites.” A grand opening for the new teen center will come later, she said. Social Bookmarking ...       |
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