Community Cultural Center launches two new teen programs
Community Cultural Center launches two new teen programs
Newly hired youth programs coordinator is busy reaching out to Sebastopol teens
The Sebastopol Community Cultural Center has recently hired a new youth programs coordinator, Sean Armstrong, and launched two new programs for local teens: a girl’s discussion group called Girls Group, and a career readiness group called Future Club.
Tanya Sierra, the community center’s interim director, said that the center had been looking for a way to increase its programming for teens for several years. Hiring Armstrong was the catalyst that got the programs off the ground.
“What we jumped into right away was trying to get something up for the kids after school,” she said.
Girls Group: A place to talk
The Girls Group happens Thursdays at 4 pm, and teens are welcome to either register ahead of time or just drop in.
“The girls group came together between conversations with myself and the Gravenstein Health Action Coalition,” Sierra said. “We know that teen girls especially are having very high stress levels—of course, I think many kids are—but we wanted to try to see what we could do to offer peer discussion groups so that girls could come to a safe space to share and connect and de-stress.”
“The topics that they're going to talk about will be chosen by the girls who show up,” she said, noting that the discussions will be facilitated by Christina Nihil of the Buckelew Program.
In a nod to new gender norms, she also said, “We also say it’s “female identifying” because we do want to be inclusive of everybody. So any female-identifying teen from age 13 to 18 are welcome to come.”
Future Club: Getting teens to think about, well, the future
Future Club, a weekly career readiness program, meets on Wednesday and runs from 2 to 6 pm. Teens don’t have to stay the whole time; they can drop in any time.
“It starts with an opportunity to grab a snack, do some homework, and then at 4 o'clock is when we start the career ready segment,” Sierra said, noting that offering a snack is key to getting teens in the door.
Armstrong, who in addition to working for the community center runs his own clothing business, is the facilitator of Future Club.
“At Future Club we explore employability skills that can make one more attractive to prospective employers, as well as the skills to take on a business of one’s own. In obtaining these skills, one can more confidently and clearly envision a path toward success,” Armstrong said. “Whether that entails embarking toward a new career or profession or entrepreneurship, our mission is to motivate, inspire and share crucial steps toward a more clear and confident path to get there.”
Sierra added, “We can help them not only with resume building, but also things like basic tools, basic skills, or interpersonal skills. We all kind of assume that because these kids grew up with technology that they know exactly how to use it and utilize it to its full potential, but what's kind of being found is that some of those very basic skills have gone by the wayside because what you do on your phone doesn't always translate to what you do on the computer.”
Future Club is funded by the city of Sebastopol and by a private donor, who made a donation specifically for a “teen works project.” Part of the money the center gets from the city includes funds earmarked for teen programs.
Casting a wide net
Though the community center is focusing most of its recruitment efforts on Analy and Laguna High Schools, the programs are open to any teenager in Sonoma County.
“It'd be really nice to just get kids from all areas and backgrounds to come in,” Sierra said.
Expect the community center to launch more teen programs in the future. “Sean is going to be using the Future Club especially as a springboard to find out what the kids would like to do, and then we’ll go from there,” Sierra said.
