Pemi Youth Center After School Program

The OJJDP FY 10 Earmarks Program furthers the Department's mission by providing grants, cooperative agreements, and other assistance authorized by the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act of 1974, as amended, to organizations identified in the Conference Report to accompany the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2010 (P.L. 111-117), H.R. Conf. Rep. No. 111-366 at 702-714.

The Pemi Youth Center (PYC) is a not-for-profit organization founded in September of 1999. The Center's mission and main goal is to provide a safe and welcoming place where youth may gather outside of school and gain a sense of community, belonging and self-esteem. The program operates weekdays from 2:30pm-6:00pm during critical after school hours, when youth are otherwise unsupervised. The program prevents negative behaviors such as the use of drugs and alcohol, violence, and the continuation of generational abuse and neglect. The target population served are local youth ages 10-17, who have been identified as having risk factors. Youth are taught life skills and are exposed to academic support, mentoring, creative arts, recreational activities, cooking, support groups, a drug and alcohol free group, community service opportunities and more. Through these efforts, the program is able to build self-esteem and provide youth with the necessary tools to make positive decisions. With funding, PYC will have the ability to hire additional staff. Performance measures will focus on the following: an increase in self-esteem, the number of youth reporting positive interactions with staff and mentors, and the number of youth reporting the value of one to one mentoring. NCA/NCF