Youth centers pull in preteens

But one group targeted by all three facilities - older teens - is unimpressed. Complaints of youths causing trouble have dropped. Center directors believe programs for older teens would take even more youths off the streets.

By KATHERINE BLOK

© St. Petersburg Times, published August 14, 2000

State Sen. Ginny Brown-Waite tells a story about how an elderly woman stopped her inside a Kash n' Karry store in 1998; the woman asked the senator to escort her to her car.

The woman said she was frightened by teenagers hanging out in the Spring Hill store's parking lot.

Brown-Waite said the experience made her realize that kids lack much to do after school and on weekends in Hernando County, and that she was in a position to help find a solution. She went back to Tallahassee that year and fought for funding to finance a youth center.

The senator was able to obtain some "seed money" in the 1998-99 state budget. She gathered a group and formed a board of directors for what is now the Spring Hill Boys and Girls Youth Center.

The youth center opened in September 1999, and since then, two other centers -- the YMCA Teen Center in Spring Hill and the Jerome Brown Community Center in Brooksville -- have opened their doors, answering a longtime call in the community for activities designed to keep young people off the streets and out of trouble.

All three centers offer games such as pool and foosball. The Boys and Girls center and the Brown center have gyms for basketball and volleyball. The YMCA and Boys and Girls centers have computers for kids to use for their homework.

The Boys and Girls Youth Center, on Applegate Road next to Westside Elementary School, has "had a wonderful response from the parents," said Julie Rodriguez, the center's executive director. "The parents have recognized that (the center is) very much needed."

But there is one group of young people the centers are having trouble attracting -- older teenagers.

When you walk inside the Boys and Girls and Brown centers -- the YMCA center is closed for the summer -- you find kids ages 8 through 12 running around and having a great time. However, older teens, whom all of the centers have targeted as a group they hope to attract, apparently remain unimpressed. Officials at the Brown Center say they are having some luck with teenagers looking for an air-conditioned place to play basketball in the evening, however.

Directors of the two Spring Hill centers say they are conscious of the lack of older teens; at the Brown Center, it is probably too early to tell whether older teens will participate or not.

All of the directors say they are developing programs to attract older teens, conscious of the possibility that they could become little more than baby-sitting services for younger kids.

"We'll obviously have to venture out and try to tackle that (issue)," Rodriguez said.

Programs might cut crime

According to the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice, juvenile felony crimes in Hernando increased from 304 to 348 between 1997-98 and 1998-99. Misdemeanors decreased from 437 to 315.

It is statistics such as these that people have pointed to for years and said that if Hernando had more entertainment options for young people, crime might go down.

The Boys and Girls Center, housed in the renovated school district bus depot next to Westside Elementary School, is freeto all county youths and has seen a steady flow of participants after school and during summer afternoons, Rodriguez said.

The center, which opened with 2,000 registered participants, is in the process of applying for affiliation with the Boys and Girls Clubs of America. When the affiliation is approved, Rodriguez said, the center will be able to take advantage of programs developed by the Boys and Girls Clubs of America.

Amber Ulatowski, 11, Crystal Rockwell, 14, and Andrew Raab, 12, all frequent visitors to the Boys and Girls Center, said they would be sitting at home and doing nothing if the center did not exist.

Their peers who do not come to the center are "probably bored," said Andrew, a seventh-grader at Fox Chapel Middle School.

Others are "probably out stealing, getting in trouble and doing drugs," said Crystal, an eighth-grader at Fox Chapel.

Amber, a Fox Chapel sixth-grader, said she has trouble understanding why young people her age and older would not want to come to the center.

"It's cool," she said. "I like hanging out here."

About 75 to 80 kids participated in activities at the Boys and Girls Center during the 1999-2000 school year, Rodriguez said. The summer months have seen a registration of about 80 and participation numbers ranging from 45 to 50.

The YMCA Teen Center, adjacent to the YMCA sports complex on Deltona Boulevard in Spring Hill, opened in April with a wide array of table, video and computer games to keep participants active, said YMCA senior programming director Harry Johnson.

The most attractive aspect of belonging to the YMCA, Johnson said, is that teens coming to the center can also use all of the YMCA's facilities. YMCA membership fees cover both the YMCA and the teen center.

The Brown Center, at Tom Varn Park in Brooksville, opened in May and is available for use by people of all ages. The center has been hosting the Hernando County Recreation Department's Camp FunShine throughout the summer, so the day crowd has been young children, although director Tina Nichols said teens have frequented the center in the evening.

Nichols said she plans to organize basketball and volleyball games in the center's indoor gym and will purchase a variety of board games for the game room. The center will also play host to city of Brooksville recreation programs, such as martial arts, aerobics and arts and crafts, in the fall, she said.

One fan of the centers is Spring Hill Civic Association President Jim McLaughlin.

McLaughlin said he has already seen a change in the community since the centers opened.

Complaints from Spring Hill residents about trouble-causing teens have been "few and far between" in recent months, he said.

Hernando needs more people like Rodriguez, Johnson and Nichols who are dedicated to helping kids, he said. "My hat's off to these people. They're doing the job that I wish we had more people to do."

The centers' directors know what young people want and how to keep them interested, an important factor in long-term success, McLaughlin said.

Despite the lack of participation by older teens so far, McLaughlin said younger children who are going to the centers will likely develop a sense of community and not become troublemakers.

"Maybe these kids will turn around and be the youth leaders of tomorrow," he said.

Older teens want more

Attracting older teenagers may be tough.

Ryan Gorman, a senior at Central High School, says adults are way off target when it comes to assessing the needs and desires of the high-school age population in Hernando.

Ryan says he and his friends have never heard about any of the three youth centers, and that the centers, as described to him, are not what older teens are looking for.

"The one thing teens want is dance clubs," Ryan said, lamenting the loss of the controversial Planet Bubba, which closed in May after Spring Hill residents complained about noise violations.

He said local teens drive to clubs in Pasco and Hillsborough counties, and that a club in Hernando would alleviate the long drive, bring new business to the county and serve the needs of bored teens.

Even though more sheriff's deputies might be needed to patrol the area around a club, Ryan, at least the deputies wouldn't have to be out looking for troublemakers on the streets.

"You have the right bouncers, you have the right system, it's under control," he said of a club. "That's 300 to 400 kids who have something to do. That's 300, 400 kids not drinking."

Officials at the youth centers acknowledge that attracting older teens such as Ryan is a problem, but they say they are trying.

They also say the centers can be successful without older teens.

Johnson said the Y's Teen Center has had dances and a pool party, attended by about 30 to 35 kids, in an effort to attract older teens.

But generally, most people who use the center are students from nearby Fox Chapel Middle School, he said; high-schoolers have been few and far between.

Only three to six people came to the center during its first month of operation, Johnson said. Then the YMCA offered Fox Chapel students free run of the center for a month, and about 45 kids took advantage of the promotion. The numbers dwindled, though, and the center's attendance averaged 25 to 30 per day for the rest of the school year. The number fell again to 10 to 15 participants this summer, Johnson said.

"It's a little bit harder to target that (older teen) age group," he said. "Our hardest job is going to be to target (older teens) and get them to come give us a shot."

The Boys and Girls Center is aiming its programs at youths from 10 to 17 years old, a range stipulated by the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice for groups receiving its grants. Rodriguez said, however, that most of those coming to the center fall in the 10-to-13 range, and most of the older kids who show up are looking to complete community service requirements for high school.

The centers' directors do not consider the lack of older teens at the centers to be an indication of failure. They point to the successes they're having with younger, more impressionable teens and preteens.

"Most important to me is to reach the 10- to 15-year-olds before they have that car, before they go out to get that job," Rodriguez said. The older teens who do come to the center, she said, "are tremendously beneficial to us. . . . They've come to us and ended up being mentors for the younger children."

In its first months of operation, the Brown Center has been a bit more successful at drawing teenagers. Teens and young adults frequent the center in the evening, Nichols said, looking to play basketball in the air-conditioned gym.

Johnson and Rodriguez do notthink their centers are at risk of becoming glorified day-care centers. Both said they are happy that the centers are appealing to a wide variety of young people; they said they understand that many older teens would rather get a part-time job or volunteer at the centers rather than participate in the programs.

They said they will continue to work through the high schools to advertise their centers' availability to students looking to complete volunteer hours required for graduation. And they are hoping that some of those volunteers will like what they see at the centers and return later with friends to participate.

New programs considered

The YMCA's goal for the coming school year is to increase numbers, Johnson said.

Continued drug and alcohol prevention and sex education programs could be coupled with job training programs and activities to attract older teens, he said. Sessions on job interviews and how to fill out applications could attract older teens who are looking to get part-time jobs once they turn 16.

He realizes the center may be most successful in the long run with the 10-to-15 age group. YMCA officials will examine their successes and failures toward the end of the year and could end up changing the center's target age group, he said.

"If we're not serving the teens, and they're not willing to come to us and give us a try, we'll certainly look at it on a management basis: Do we turn it into more or less a child-care atmosphere? Do we change our target range . . . knowing we can fill that up a lot easier than the teens?" he said.

Nichols said the Brown Center wants to work at attracting all age groups -- from senior citizens to younger kids.

The center has not done much advertising, Nichols said, and is relying on word of mouth and help from Brooksville's Parks and Recreation Department to market itself.

Officials at the two centers in Spring Hill are also hoping that kids will talk among themselves, and with their parents, to promote use of the centers. They are also advertising with fliers distributed at schools.

The Boys and Girls Center held a youth expo last November and will sponsor another in September. Local organizations and businesses will be available to talk with children and their parents about the services they provide, Rodriguez said.

Kids not registered with the center will be invited to participate in the expo, which will also include a teen car show and other activities.

As part of the YMCA center's effort to offer new programs, the Y is looking to put together a steering committee of sorts, Johnson said.

The committee would consist of YMCA officials and teens who frequent the center and show some leadership potential.

"I think they'll help us get more program ideas," Johnson said. "We like to do program activities, not just show up and hang out."

Johnson, Rodriguez and Nichols all view their centers as a success so far. The feedback they're getting has been extremely positive, they say, and they are optimistic about the future.

Johnson said his main goal is to provide "a safe haven for the kids to come out and play (and) hang out."

In addition to attracting older participants and volunteers, Rodriguez said she would like to reach children in other areas of the county, especially in Hernando Beach and Ridge Manor.

Her vision for the soon-to-be Hernando Boys and Girls Club includes, eventually, three regionalized centers rather than one larger center in Spring Hill or Brooksville.

Rodriguez said the smaller centers would reach more at-risk children who can benefit from the safe haven and programs the centers can provide.

"There are over about 16,000 school-age children in this county. Even these three (existing) facilities will not service all of these children," Rodriguez said.

"It's very important to me that Hernando County stand united for the kids of the county. I'm trying to serve children. We need each other's help. One organization cannot do it alone."

Sen. Brown-Waite says society either "pays now or you pay later" if kids cave in to the temptations of drugs and crime.

"There's lots of kids out there who really just need some direction," she said.

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