Officials involved with the Community Well Being Plan are making an urgent plea to Council to create and fund a Youth Facilitator position for the Dryden Youth Centre.
They are also requesting the City work with other viable organizations to ensure the long term security of the position.
The 113 Albert Street site is now closed because funding for the position fell through.
The Youth Centre opened in July following heavy demand from kids aged 11-16 in the community.
It was open for 37 days and served a total of 120 youth.
Total sign-in’s totalled 584.
A youth survey of over 300 individuals showed strong support for the creation of a Youth Centre and those involved indicated what their needs were which drove the programs and activities offered over the Summer.
Ann Tkachyk is the Co-Chair of the Community Well Being Plan and she notes it’s a crisis situation and they are looking at various options and looking to form partnerships.
Tkachyk says kids rely on the programs and services offered by the Youth Centre.
“They want a safe place to go to hang out with their friends and do activities, some structured activities, some non-structured activities. And they just wanted to be able to be in an environment where there was no influence of drugs and no influence regarding violence.”
Tkachyk stresses youth centres act as an effective crime prevention program and connects youth to their community.
She notes the entire community came together when the facility opened, noting they received donations and support from a number of individuals and organizations.
Tkachyk says their clients noticed and appreciated that support.
“When you do that, that builds trust in our young people. That builds trust between young people and adults that they do have the support that they need in the community.”
She says one benefit of the centre was a partnership with the hospital for the services of a Youth and Family Crisis Outreach worker.
“This worker was on-site. It provided an opportunity for not just the young people but their families to get help if they were in some sort of crisis.”
Tkachyk stresses youth centres are an effective method in dealing with youth mental health, addictions and building life skills and community partnerships.
Tkachyk says 2017 stats show that over half of Northwest Health Unit catchment area, those aged 12 to 18, had engaged in underage drinking, compared to the provincial rate of 31%.
She adds Dryden Police Service numbers report a 20% spike in trouble with youth calls in 2017-2018.
Tkachyk stresses “This is the goal of the Youth Centre. To give young people an alternative to ‘I don’t have anything to do expect for drink or engage in other high risk behaviours.”
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