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Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Support 802 Lounge - Youth Managed Cafe

Help support the 802 Lounge! 

Go to:  http://www.youcaring.com/nonprofits/support-the-802-lounge/105705
  and make a donation, no amount to small or too large.
 
Hello my name is Rachel Williams; I am the director of the Youth Managed Café (YMC). If you have never heard of the YMC before we are a non-profit organization working that works with young adults in the upper valley to help them become positive and productive members of the community.

We offer a variety of support to young adults including our youth center/arts venue in Windsor Vermont better known as the 802 Lounge.
 
The YMC fills a much-needed niche working with a segment of our population that is frequently overlooked and alienated, namely our marginalized youth. It is rightly located where there is a high percentage of a low-socioeconomic population and a high school drop out rate that is 3 times the state average.  Recent reports indicate rising use of heroin, prescription medicine, bath salts and other drugs among area youth.  Tragically, this summer four young people in the area committed suicide and officials have reported a rise in self-cutting.
 
The YMC offers youth a place to go that is safe and substance-free. It offers a broad range of no-cost workshops and activities to build youths’ skills and provides them with an affordable, alternative outlet for arts, music and events.  For example, through the Youth Café Kids group, which is in charge of running all of the events and programs, young people learn such skills as fundraising, organizing and public speaking. While youth oriented, YMC is also a resource for parents, providing workshops on such themes as bullying, substance abuse and current hot topics such as sexting.

With poverty rates rising and schools facing tight budgets, organizations such as the Youth Managed Café are more needed than ever. We are currently trying to meet a matching grant of 25,000 from the Byrne Foundation by the end of 2013. There is no amount too small or too large. Every bit donated helps provide oppertunities for young adults. If you are wondering what will happen to your donation if we dont meet the 25,000 dollars in time don't worry. Every dollar donated will go immediatly towards helping youth and the community, and once we reach the $25,000 goal every dollar you have donated will magically turn into a second dollar thanks to the Byrne foundation.

You may be wondering what programs we offer and what your money will be going towards helping. Below is a list and a brief description of the programs we offer:

Youth Cafe Youth Group (aka Youth Cafe Kids): The youth cafe youth group is open to young adults ages 12 to 21. Our youth group is the heart of the organization and is in charge of running all of our events and programs. The group learns skills in fundraising and event organization. The group is in charge of running the 802 Lounge. Our youth group is a great peer support group that works one on one with our councilor to help make fun activities that apply to young adults in the upper valley as well as receive assistance with continuing education and job placement.

The 802 Lounge: The 802 Lounge is  substance free art and music venue/lounge on River street in Windsor Vt. It is open to people of all ages (those under 12 must be accompanied by a chaperone) 6 days a week.

The Lounge schedule is Tuesday-Thursday 3pm to 9pm, Friday 3pm-12am, Saturday 2pm-12am and Sunday 2pm-pm.

The lounge is free during normal operation and offers free wifi, laptops for in house use, cable on our 50 inch tv, a playstation with a variety of games, an air hockey table, books games and our great resource area (the resource area features free health products like soap and tooth brushes as well as a community bulletin board and useful brochures).

Most of all the lounge is a great place to come and hang out, do homework and purchase snacks. We also offer music and art events, art workshops, business workshops, a parenting group and health workshops.

Although the lounge is open to people of all ages it primarily is used by young adults between the ages of 14 and 25 reducing the loitering issue and substance use issue in Windsor Vt.

Art and Music Events: The Youth Managed Cafe offers low cost music and art events featuring local artist. These events range from concerts to art galleries and everything in between. Our events are held all over the upper valley to insure everyone the access to cultural events.

Art Workshops: We offer a variety of art workshops that resemble day camps for people under the age of 19. Working with experienced artists our workshops are a great way to provide a variety of art education to all in the community for low to no cost.

Business Workshops: The key to a successful career is experience. We offer a variety of business workshops at no cost to young adults that are hosted by professionals in our community. These workshops expose young adults to programs being used by most companies, practice interview skills and let the participants use lap tops to successfully use the skills they practice in the workshops.

Health Workshops: This year we will be starting health workshops for young adults to better expose them to topics they are currently facing that they may not have access to in other forms. An example of this will be Planned Parenthood coming and discussing personal health topics with kids in Windsor who are at least a fifteen minute drive from their nearest clinic.

Parent Workshops: We offer a bi weekly workshop on Saturday for adults that discusses current issues facing teens such as sexting, bullying and substance use and abuse.

Artist Assistance: We offer assistance to artist under the age of 25 finding galleries to display their work, schools and classes to better educate themselves and help with creating forms to sell their work in a responsible and legal manner (such as artist contracts and bills of sale).

Assistance Continuing Education: Our employees work one on one with young adults helping them research colleges, research scholarships, apply for both colleges and scholarships, write essays and create portfolios. We take pride in this program and the fact that over 90 percent of our youth group members continue education after the completion of high school.

Community Art and Philanthropic Projects: Our youth group works in different art and philanthropic projects throughout the Upper Valley. Past projects have included green up at the Windsor Welcome Center and our annual jack o lantern decorating at CHAD.

Youth Training and Collaboration with Other Youth Organizations: We take our youth group to a variety of youth summits and training events and work with other local and state wide youth groups to work on different projects such as our work with VKAT/OVX in assistance withe the Free My Ride Campaign.

The Youth Managed Cafe has received plenty of recognition over the years for our work in the community. We hope to continue offering these great programs and serving young adults throughout the Upper Valley of Vermont and New Hampshire. This is were you come in. Please help us by donation to our organization and to the future of youth. Any amount is appreciated and all will be doubled by the Byrne Foundation once we reach our goal.

Feel free to email our director Rachel Williams, williams.youthcafe@gmail, if you have any questions and please feel free to drop by the 802 Lounge!

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