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Editorial
A Place for Teens needs more teens
Somebody apparently dropped the ball at a Place for Teens, a local nonprofit youth organization, and maybe it will serve as a wake-up call. During a recent town council meeting, the community services department presented its budget for fiscal year 2001-02. A portion of the department's budget annually funds a community grants program that targets nonprofit organizations.
A Place for Teens had received more than $10,000 from the grant program in 2000-01, but this funding ends June 30. The organization apparently forgot to turn in its application on time and the mistake cost it literally thousands of dollars.
Despite not having received an application, the town council set aside $2,000 for the organization, a far cry from the $14,000 it requested.
Council members were sympathetic to the organization's plight, and a few even said they would consider a recommendation to increase funding, but not for $14,000.
By balking at the requested amount, which was 40 percent higher than the previous year's figure, the council seemed reluctant to pour more money into this organization, at least in its present incarnation.
Councilman Steve Glickman was even more pointed in his criticism. He said that out of a student population of 1,450 students at Los Gatos High School, only 30 to 50 teens actually go to the organization's center on a daily basis
Glickman requested that the teens who are involved in the organization consider "how they can improve what they're doing to help their peers." This is a polite way of saying, "If you want more money from the town's coffers, find a way to get more teens to use A Place for Teens."
Of course, Glickman has his own agenda; he wants the town to build a skatepark for local kids, something he thinks they're likely to really use. But just because an organization has its heart in the right place doesn't mean it shouldn't reconsider its mission and purpose every now and again.
Like any other entity, a nonprofit can stagnate and lose touch with its constituency, especially when thousands of dollars of funding is taken for granted to the extent that somebody forgets to apply for it.
The people behind A Place for Teens need to go to the schools and find ways to get more kids involved on a more regular basis.
Teen centers can be a tough sell, especially in a town of relative affluence where many kids have the equivalent of a teen center in their own homes. Other kids see any kind of organized hangout as a place to avoid at all costs. That's just part of being a teen.
But A Place for Teens should at least try to get a clearer pulse of what its constituency truly wants and implement changes if necessary. Then maybe it will present enough solid evidence to earn the town's support, financial and otherwise.
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Los Gatos, California Since 1881
