Res 2019-079/approving the recommendation of the San Marcos Commission on Children and Youth to allocate $63,750 in 2018-2019 Fiscal Year funding for 21 youth programs that contribute to implementation of the Youth Master Plan

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Recommendations for Youth Services Funding FY 2018-2019 21 programs ( $63,750 total Boys & Girls Clubs of South Central Texas Teen Center— The Teen Center is an excl usive program forTeens in San Marcos to participate during out of school times such as after school, weekends, school holiday breaks and summer. Services provided by the program support the advance me nt of Teen's realization of post -secondary opportunities, local philanthropy & community service and advisement. The Program's mission istoe nable all young people especially those that need us most to reach the irfuII potential. The Teen Center program provides services in Character& Leadership, Career& Education, Healthy Lifestyles, The Arts and Fitness & Recreation. Character & Lead ershi p se rvices include chartered Ieadership groups aimed at community service and peer leadership for Middle School and High School aged youth. The Torch Club program for teens ages 11-14, introduces& builds upon organizational concepts such as office reIections, collaboration, logistics and team manage mentaimed at demonstrating to participating youth how they can become the difference maker in the ircommunity, their school and home. Much of these concepts are achieved through meetings guided by Teen Center staff in which the youth identify the ircommunity issues and brainstorm so I utions toaddressthem. Torch Club members put on Fall Festival events, Parties, Competitions and volunteer within community events. The Teen Center location provides a constant place in which the youth can host and share the irown community centricevents without the worry of securing Iocation. The Keystone Club program for teens ages 14 - 18, continues the learned conceptsfromTorch Club, but allows more independent action from High School age youth to problem solve and connect with community advocates. The Keystone Club program builds on skills of Event Planning from the introductions made in Torch Club and offers these teens opportunities top Ian events with and for the ircommunities at various San Marcos community events (e.g. Sights and Sounds, Movies in the Park), Boys & Girls Club locations and abroad. The Teen Center program also provides place for Teens to express themselves creatively. Teens can create Graph icdesigns,web sites, short films, music and dive into cod ingvia Boys & Girls Clubs MyFuture.netdigitaI on line suite. The program features a mentoring aspect pairing Teens with positive adults either currently enrolled in/graduated from Post -Secondary educational institutions. Through these mentoring relationships, teens receive assistance with school -work, non -judgmental advisement and encourage mentto achieve the irfuIlest potential through hard -work and commitment. The Teen Center partners with local non -profits such as Hays County Food Bank and Hays Caldwell Council top rovide Healthy Lifestyle activities highlighting Healthy Diet Choices, Resilience to negative pressures and Self-confidence. The Teen Center program provides reguIarCollegeTouropportunities on weekends and during School Holiday breaks. How they will measure program success: Program success will be measured by Program participant enrollment and reguIarweekly program attendance. It is our goal to meet an attendance goal of 75% visitation by al I program participants. Much success of the program is centered around teens being regularly involved in productive activities so attendance is very crucial to establishing other programs uccessmarkers. Programs uccesswiI I be measured by the number of events hosted and volunteered by Teens registered to the program. It is a goal of the program for Teen Center participants to host annual events during Spring and Winter/Fall semesters aimed at exposing Teens to opportunities in post -secondary education, careers, entre pre neurism, health and life skills. The Teen Center wiII also measure programs uccessthroughconsistentcommunityservice hours tracking fore achteen member. Because our Teen Leadership groups are community service focused, each teen in our program has a goal to obtain representing various levels of privileges. We have established agoaI for aII teens to obtain at minimum 50hours of community service per membership year. Program success will be measured bythetotal numberofTeens meetingthisgoal. Priority Areas that this program will fulfill: This program fulfills Priority Action Area 3 and Strategy of the Youth Master Plan. Priority Action Area 3s peaks to Increase and improve avaiIability and access to developmental activities and supports. Removing the cost barrier for me m be rship to the Teen Center provides more access tote ensin need. Strategy of the YMP stands to develop and staff teen centers and/or events that provide safe free pIaces forte ens to gather after school and on wee ken ds to have fun, do homework and participate in a variety of clubs and activities. The