The Community Place- Media Room

The Community Place Reorganizes Youth Programs to Ensure

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (October 23, 2006) – Youth need to be engaged in a culture of opportunity in order to make positive life choices and to ensure success in the future. To provide city youth with such a culture, The Community Place of Greater Rochester, Inc. has reorganized its youth services department and is introducing the Beacon Centers youth development program for the 2006-2007 school year.

The Beacon Centers take a holistic approach to youth development; the program incorporates social and character development activities, college and career exposure, academic assistance, and much more into a comprehensive development program that will give city youth the tools and resources they will need to be successful in school and life. The Beacon Centers operate with the goal of ensuring that by age 21 all youth will be ready for college, work, and life.

The Beacon Centers will be run from The Community Place’s 145 Parsells and 57 Central Park sites. Youth and families are partners and help to determine and shape the services offered. This approach will guarantee that the changing needs of the youth are met. Youth and families that select the Beacon Centers will receive comprehensive, youth-centered, and family-focused programs that are based on the individual personality and needs of each youth. Each youth is assigned an adult coach that will help them plot a course through age 21 and assist them in meeting established goals.

Because balance in any youth development program is vital, the Beacon Centers will still offer sports and recreation and cultural and artistic development activities. All activities will ultimately be aimed at preparing Rochester youth for success in college, work, and life.

The Beacon Centers are currently enrolling participants for the 2006-2007 school year. All those interested should contact Leonard Brock, director, leadership and character development, at (585) 288-0021.

The Community Place of Greater Rochester, Inc. is a nonprofit provider of neighborhood-based human services that offers a variety of programs and services to individuals, families, children, the aging, and the developmentally disabled living in the greater Rochester area. CPGR was formed in 2001 after the merger of the former Lewis Street Center, Genesee Settlement House, and Eastside Community Center. Visit us on the web at www.communityplace.org.