| Youth First connects with families at new site |
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| Wednesday, 29 July 2009 | ||
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Staff writer Thanks to hours of hard work and plenty of community support, Youth First Community of Promise has a homey home base for its Anoka Neighborhood Center.
Geiss and her Youth First colleagues hosted the July 21 Family Club event at the newly renovated home, surrounded by mature oaks and maples and cradled among its neighbors on Euclid Avenue in Anoka. “We completely renovated the house. We put in a handicap accessible bathroom and a ramp to the front door. We tore down the garage and put new sod in the yard. We have a new furnace, new air conditioner, new electrical – we really got down to the bones of things,” Geiss said, describing improvements made to the home in preparation for its new residents. “We had lots of community support and lots of in-kind donations to make this happen,” Geiss said. The three-bedroom home-turned Neighborhood Center accommodates a craft room, a computer room and office space as well as a kitchen, bathroom, living room and dining room. “Starting this fall, we’ll have our office hours here,” Geiss said. “It will be very similar to what we had in our office space next to Head Start,” she said, referring to Youth First Community of Promise’s previous location just a couple of blocks west of the new Neighborhood Center. Typically, Geiss said, Youth First Community of Promise provides after-school activities and guidance for some 20 children each day. Most of the children who find their after-school home-away-from-home in the Neighborhood Center live within a nine-block radius of the center, Geiss said. This summer, Youth First Community of Promise has been providing a low-cost Summer Fun program for children entering second- through fifth-grade in Anoka. Classes and activities include fire safety and health awareness instruction, “mad science” and craft day activities, plus special classes offered by instructors from Underwater World, Connexus Energy and Eastman Nature Center. Not only that, a variety of field trips are planned for youth entering sixth- through 12th-grade. Aug. 6 has the kids heading to Lake George for swimming and a barbecue picnic. On Aug. 13, they’ll head to the Rum River for some fishing. And on Aug. 20, Bunker Beach is the place for some wet and wild summertime fun. “The kid part is the best part of the day. I really like hanging out with the kids,” Geiss said. For more information on how to register for Youth First classes and activities, contact Geiss by e-mail at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it '; document.write( '' ); document.write( addy_text9251 ); document.write( '<\/a>' ); //-->\n This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or call 763-421-8530. Youth First Community of Promise is a collaborative program between the cities of Anoka, Andover and Ramsey, Anoka County and Anoka-Hennepin School District. Youth First Community of Promise is an organization that is both ground-breaking and rooted in proven youth developmental practices, as stated on the Youth First Web site. Born in 1991 as Youth First, the organization was created by visionaries who were able to reach across governmental boundaries and form a collaboration to reduce risky behaviors in youth in the communities of Andover, Anoka and Ramsey. By becoming a “Site of Promise” Youth First Community of Promise pledges to actively engage not only the youth, but the community itself. That pledge is accomplished by providing the following: • Caring adults • Safe places • A healthy start • An effective education • Opportunities to help others As proclaimed on the Web site, “By ensuring that our community youth are given the opportunity to consistently experience these promises Youth First Community of Promise and its supporting members are building a future where youth are more likely to succeed academically, socially, and civically, regardless of ethnic or economic boundaries.” To learn more about Youth First, visit www.youth1st.net . Sue Austreng is at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it |
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