10/31/08: Three Exciting Options

Alyson Yarus from Noll & Tam came to visit recently. First she chatted with us about our thoughts on the Yellow Jackets play at the Berkeley Rep (she saw it with some of the Task Force members). Then she presented us with three exciting layouts of what the teen center could possibly look like. One had three floors, another had a bunch of windows and they were all really great.

Our team pretty much unanimously all gravitated toward the same plan that we had all come to like without arguments or persuasion. So I guess the one we chose must be “the one” (hopefully). We all really liked Option #1 because it has a partial third floor (also known as the roof) with a bunch of programming going on up there. The rest of the building included a leadership development room, academic achievement room, and an employment career training office for teens as well. Alyson made notes on the schemes so she had to take them with her, but we’re all excited and can’t wait to see what she brings us next time.

Click here to see the plan the Teen Task Force favored.

10/07/08: 50% Business, 50% Fun

A few weeks ago the Task Force gathered at the future Teen Center with local community members from various youth serving organizations throughout the city to brainstorm on what a successful Teen Center would look and feel like. Some of the teens would argue that 7:30 was way too early to be up and running the visioning session with thirty eager community leaders. However, delicious bagels, fruit, and coffee woke the group up very quickly. Nothing like good food to get people energized!
Each of us played a key role in running the visioning session, from doing small group ice breakers to giving a powerpoint, to running the actual session. For many of the Task Force members, this was our first time organizing and leading a presentation in front of a large group of adults. The visioning session made me feel like I was a mature and professional young adult. Towards the end, I led the group through a summary of all the ideas that we collaborated on.
Some main themes that came up:

The Teen Center needs to be a place where all groups of teens feel welcome. We should emphasize outreach to all teens, while not just focusing solely on low risk teens or high risk teens.

Coordination between other city agencies and organizations is key. Also, non-duplication of services is essential.

“50% business, 50% fun” is an idea that rose out of a focus group we held earlier this summer. This has become a new motto for how we are planning to shape the programming of the future Teen Center.

Ultimately, we will use the feedback and ideas gathered from the visioning session to formulate the vision statement for the future Teen Center.