Trenton man creates a place youth can call home

By Jennifer Bowman

Jared Phillips hopes the Quinte West Youth Centre will provide youth with hope and a place to call their own.

Two years ago, Phillips, who works with youth and their parents through the Prince Edward Hastings Children’s Aid Society, gathered a committee to work with troubled youth.

“Some of these young people just seemed hopeless. They didn’t think that they were ever going to do a whole lot,” he said.

Outside of sports and academics, he said there wasn’t very much opportunity for young people in Quinte West. Instead, there were problems such as high drop-out rates, youth vandalism, and youth crime.

“Quinte West doesn’t even have a mall for kids to go hang out at, so they need some place to be,” said Phillips. “Or if I was in their situation, I’d be finding trouble too, I suppose.”

The committee decided to set to work on a youth centre to address the problem. Their efforts will be realized October 20 when a new 6,400 square-foot youth centre on 2 Wooler Road in Trenton is scheduled to open.

They’re basically offering youth things that can improve their lot in life and their future outlooks, said Phillips.

The centre will offer a coffeehouse with gaming TVs, laundry facilities, a kitchen, and space to just hang out.  Wednesday nights will offer hip-hop lessons.

Eventually they plan to start projects such as de-manufacturing computers to give teens skills and volunteer hours as well as create revenue for the centre.

To find out what youth wanted, Phillips said they surveyed 400 young people. The top concern of the 330 who replied was homework help.

All the walls at the centre are painted an eggshell colour so youth can paint it and make it their own.

“Ultimately we want the young people to decide what it’s going to look like inside and what kind of programs we’re going to offer,” said Phillips.

One of the difficulties is its location, which is about nine blocks from downtown. To help ease the situation, the board is looking for ways to make the site more accessible.

The City of Quinte West is prolonging its bus hours, so that kids can take the bus home when the centre closes, said Phillips. They’re also hoping for reduced bus rates.

Phillips said their goal is to provide a one-stop-shop for youth services.

He’s hoping to reach that goal within the first five years of operation.

“We’re just limited by our imagination and the community support we can get,” said Phillips.

So far, there have been 150 people who have touched the project in some way, whether through volunteering time, skills, or supplies, said Phillips.

The seven Trenton Tim Horton’s locations combined to cover the $10,000 start up fee, then donated another $5,000 for the lounge, which includes leather couches and a 15-inch flat screen with a Wii.

Josephine Robertson, owner of five of the Trenton restaurants, said she got involved to offer kids a chance.

“That’s what we’re hoping to do in the centre, is to get them opportunities so that they can do anything they want to do in life,” she said.

The centre is modeled after a similar centre in Ingersol, Ontario. Phillips said after five years the centre saw a 38-per-cent decrease in youth crime rates, a 90-per-cent decrease in 911 calls, as well as decreases in suicides and teen pregnancies.

Phillips said he hopes that providing youth with a place to hang out and gain skills will mean Quinte West will see reduced rates of vandalism and youth crime, as well as more engagement in the community.

Phillips said there is a code of conduct at the centre that includes basic rules around respect, taking care of the centre, no discrimination, alcohol, drugs, weapons, violence, or smoking inside. If the code is violated, teens will be asked to leave, and parents and police may be contacted.

“We hope to be big on second chances here to make this work,” Phillips said.

“We’ve created the shell of what this youth centre can be, and we can’t wait to get the kids in there to help us figure out what it’s going to be five years down the road,” he said.