Rec department leaders present many good reasons to support new teen center

by Dan McClelland

Laura LaBarge and Christilee Geiger of the town’s new recreation department have devoted considerable time and attention this past month or so to developing what appears to be a solid plan for the creation of a new Tupper Lake teen center.

They briefed the town board on it at Thursday’s monthly board meeting.

The doors to the old basement quarters of the Aaron Maddox Hall which was the local food pantry had been closed only for a couple of weeks when Mrs. Geiger requested use of the space in the town-owned building to fashion a place for teens there.

“So we all know about the rash of recent vandalism at the municipal park, Mrs. LaBarge began their presentation Thursday evening, using the town’s large video screen.

The two women believe that teenagers without meaningful activities to do and comfortable places to do them often fall into mischief for entertainment.

She said after she won town board approval to hire Christilee this fall as the town events coordinator, both of them were approached by local residents about their plans for teenagers here.

“You have great programs for young children, but what are you doing for teens?” they asked both of us, Mrs. LaBarge told the board.

“After a panic attack because teens are terrifying,” she joked, she said they decided to meet the problem head on.

She said they created a “community input survey” that they posted online and distributed across the school district. It was also placed on the town’s Facebook page.

“We encouraged teenagers, their parents, their care-givers, neighbors, grand parents, everyone involved with teens to please complete the survey.”

A new name “Tupper Teens,” was suggested by Library Manager Courtney Carey, who has started co-hosting events and particularly children’s events with the town recreation department this past year.

“We did some research on what it will take to create a teen center- to make sure all our ducks were in a row.”

She said they have created a “Tupper Teens” board of directors. There have been discussions between the town pair and the new board members about the responses to the community survey and from that work has come a new mission statement, which reads as follows:

“The Town of Tupper Lake Recreation Department and the Tupper Teens board have a mission to improve the quality of life for Tupper teenagers and offer constructive opportunities for maturity and growth in a safe and supportive environment and encouraging teens to becoming active, productive members of their schools, families and the community.”

Mrs. Geiger listed the board members, who she said many of whom wanted to be in attendance that evening, but could not because of conflicts.

One of them, Mayor Mary Fontana, was in attendance, however.

The other board members consist of Courtney Carey, one of the founders, who Christilee described as “a visionary who is new to our community, who is objective in her approach to things with strong ties to the community through the local library.”

The Tupper Teens program in its infancy is currently operating out of the library’s community room, Mrs. Geiger told the board.

Another board member she said is Chelsea Schaffer, “a holistic mom of a teen and local business owner.” She said as a former “troubled teen,” she brings much insight to exact problems teens routinely face.

Matt Arsenault, also the parent of a teenager, is another board member. He considers himself “authoritative but approachable” and who is involved in both church and community. She said Matt believes he is well versed in current teen topics of diversity and inclusion

Bethany Cassell is also a new board member, “a mom of many teens,” who is experienced in numerous local outreach programs centered on helping teens, and direct’s Tupper Lake’s Family Matters program. “She is experienced at writing grants with insight into low-income demographics,” according to the town employee.

As a board member too is Mary Fontana, former town board members and mayor who she said “is dedicated to developing a strong town recreation department and through that creating good programs for people of all ages here.”

Laura LaBarge said the survey also showed the following pros and cons of starting a teen center.

Among the pros would be the availability of adult supervisors to help keep teens out of trouble at the park and elsewhere around town. The new teen center would be “a safe space” where teens can gather, she said. A new center could be a place where supervisors could bring in speakers from various local and regional programs. It could be a place to eventually foster a mentoring program that would be aimed “at building relationships and creating those important community connection.”

She said they are finding “many troubled teens don’t feel connected to their community.”

Balanced against the pros pointed up in the survey were some cons or things, Mrs. LaBarge said, might be negative about starting a teen center.

One con was the fear that when troubled teens assemble in one place, they may end up just creating more trouble. Others who responded to the survey worried about the appearance of teens hanging out on the street, looking “somewhat sketchy.”

“People wanted to make sure any selected location was accessible to everyone in town,” Mrs. LaBarge stated.

“-And lack of funding is always a concern with any new program starting up!”

“Discouragement from the community,” is another con which could adversely affect any teen program.

The inability for organizers “to tackle the tough issues facing teens,” was another potential negative element listed by those who took the survey. “Most of those who cited that concern wanted to make sure we were prepared to tackle those kinds of issues!” Laura noted.

Christilee addressed the issue of sustaining a new teen center. “It will take more than concern for this program to become successful. Every one loves the idea of a teen center. But most of these programs don’t last past the first year. It’s actually a very scary number...about 61% fail in the first year.”

“Lack of dedication from adults is the number one reason for failure. Adults in our community need to do better for our youth! Consistency is key to success. Dedicated volunteers, board members and a set schedule is essential! We also need to be prepared for the tough stuff, to maintain proper training for all staff members and volunteers. We owe this to the next generation.”

It all comes down to this, she stressed: “We need bodies, we need time, we need money!”

“Laura and I have ideas, but we are only two bodies...so we need more bodies. We also need time and we need money!”

Laura explained the program right now is an after-school program run out of the basement community room at the Goff-Nelson Memorial Library. It runs twice a week, Tuesdays and Thursdays from 2:30p.m. to 5:30p.m. She said as of now it is run by community volunteers, some of whom are from the Americorp program.

The women also listed the goals of the program, which include the involvement of teen advisors on the board, teaching life skills like cooking, doing laundry, filling out popular forms and budgeting. They would eventually like to offer teens instruction in arts, photography, dance and painting, as well as some outdoor activities like roller blading and car care.

Another important goal would be building relationships with first responders and local government agencies and organizations.

Securing exercise equipment for the new center is another goal they listed in their presentation.

“We really want a teen perspective of what they want” in the offerings before them and what’s at the new teen center, according to Mrs. LaBarge.

They showed photos of some of the teens doing various activities in the library the two afternoons a week.

Some of the teens have made solid connections with several of the volunteers who are helping there each week, it was noted.

Christilee said the owners of Lakeview Lanes have also offered very low priced bowling deals for kids to have fun there, rather than hanging out on the local streets.

Mrs. LaBarge said in recent weeks since the food pantry moved, local electric inspector and contractor, Mike Corneau, has been working to improve the electric system in the basement quarters, as well as adding smoke detectors and lighted exit signs.

“Mike is working his magic there, and donating his hours of labor” to get the center open and operating, she said.

She said while struggling right now getting volunteers, their one year plan is to have what she called “a consistency of faces” working with the teens at the center.

“We’d like to extend program hours. Initially Monday to Friday after school. Down the road we’d like to see it open seven days a week!”

She said five or ten years down the road they hope the town could afford a paid staff for the teen center. Another long-term goal would be to incorporate the teen center as a federal IRS 501-c3 organization to qualify for tax-deductible donations and grants to pay for permanent staff.

Since the proposed quarters in the Aaron Maddox Hall is not handicapped accessible, a building that is would be another long-term goal.

They presented to the board a lay-out of the new quarters that evening. There would be areas for activities and others designed “quiet space” to read, play games or do puzzles.

Incoming Board Member Crystal Boucher encouraged the pair to reach out to school district officials to help guide the development of the new place here and to become board members.

Mrs. LaBarge said they haven’t asked for board member participation because many of the district’s faculty and staff are already wearing many hats.

“Right now some of them are advising us, providing information to us when we ask questions.

Mrs. LaBarge noted too that as mentors and counselors are needed they were hoping the district personnel could help filling those roles.

Mrs. Boucher said she would like to eventually see the process by which the teen advisors are selected, in order to get candidates from a broad cross-section of the student body, rather than just select from the smaller pool of student leaders.

Christilee Geiger admitted while she isn’t the mother of teenagers yet, she is aware of some of the local issues teens face, “and I want to make it better for them!”

Councilman Rick Donah applauded their vision and enthusiasm for the new program and the work they have put into it in recent months.

“I’ve attended a number of the youth activities events in the past years, and when you see the kids and the smiles on their faces, you see how important the work is engaging these kids and giving them many options!”

“Offering alternatives for our children is great and it’s one more connection local governments have with teens in the community that we really need to form!”

As a Park Street business owner he said he knows that when kids don’t have worthwhile and meaningful things for them to do, it’s easy for them to hang out on the street, which can lead to trouble.

He said there was a teen center in town when he was a teenager, “that was a good outlet” for healthy fun and activities in many ways.

He told the ladies they were on the right track and when it comes to sustainability of the new facility, it will be up to the kids to determine that.

Help from local adults is also part of a successful sustainability formula, it was noted.

“The kids got to like it and enjoy it, and hopefully it catches on,” he told them.

Councilwoman Tracy Luton said one key to a center’s success is finding dedicated volunteers to staff a new teen center, a task made more difficult given the disrespect some teenagers hold for adults who are in charge of them.

“I find it hard that Laura and Christilee will fail,” given their dedication to the project and their enthusiasm, Supervisor Rickey Dattola confidently told his board at their close of their presentation.