Los Gatos Weekly-Times

A Place for Teens is seeking bigger piece of town budget

By Jeff Kearns

As the town begins preparing its budget for the upcoming fiscal year, The Outhouse: A Place for Teens, the nonprofit center for junior high and high school students located behind Los Gatos High School, is asking the town for $13,000--a much larger grant than the $1,000 per year it currently receives.

The Outhouse, as it is known by the young people, opened in 1994 as a hangout for teens that features pool tables, computers, a snack bar and big-screen TV. It also aims to give kids a drug- and alcohol-free place to go after school, and to serve as a meeting place for community groups.

But Outhouse staffers say the town doesn't want anything to do with the center.

"People have this misconception that the town funds us, but they don't," says Outhouse director Laurie Scolari. "These teens do need support--more than $1,000 per year, although any amount is appreciated."

The Outhouse's annual budget is $95,000, almost all of which comes from private donors. The town gave the Outhouse $75,000 in 1990 toward building the center, which is owned by the town, but the agreement the Outhouse signed with the town stipulated that the center would fund itself.

Outhouse co-president Gladie Rabitz says that agreement was made a long time ago, and with another Town Council. "In the meantime we've proven ourselves. The restriction is outdated because it was made before we were put to the test," she said.

Rabitz estimates that between 40 and 60 teens visit the center each day. The center is starting to offer a more ambitious array of programming, guided by Scolari, who became the center's new director in April. The Outhouse is now open during the high school's lunch hour, will be putting on concerts on the weekends and is opening its own computer center.

Rabitz says that even though the Outhouse is being used as a prototype for other teen centers, it isn't receiving the funding that other towns give their teen centers. Saratoga budgets $75,000 per year for its teen center, and Cupertino gives $55,000.

But Community Services Director Regina Falkner says these comparisons are misleading, because those programs are funded and operated by city recreation programs.

The Community Services Commission has recommended that the town give $5,000 to the recreation department, which would be used for classes and programs aimed at teens. Falkner says it makes more sense to promote teen programs through the recreation department, because the department sends out advertisements for classes several times a year and already offers a wide array of classes.

Some Town Councilmembers have expressed reservations about funding the center because they think it is underutilized by teens.

This and other budget items are expected to be on the agenda when the council holds a special budget hearing Tuesday, May 26, at 6 p.m.

[ Back to Contents Page | Los Gatos Weekly-Times Home Page | Archives ]