Youth Services

Youth Services offers Support Our Students (SOS) after school programs throughout Forsyth County.  SOS, a grant through the Department of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, targets youth that would otherwise be unsupervised during the critical after school hours.  Our programs offer a safe, quality experience with homework assistance, a healthy snack, and enrichment activities to build strong character.

Youth Services currently provides SOS programs at Northwest Middle school and community sites at LaDeara Crest Estates, the Ledges Apartment Complex, Green Street Methodist Church, the NAACP Enrichment Center and Salem Gardens Apartments.

We collaborate with the Second Harvest Food Bank of Northwest North Carolina to provide a Kids' Cafe at Green Street United Methodist Church and the NAACP Enrichment Center. Kids Café is a hunger relief program that provides a hot meal to youth three days per week. Youth must reside in Ladeara Crest, Salem Gardens or the Ledges to participate in those programs. Any youth 2nd through 8th grade can apply to the Green Street or NAACP Kids Cafe sites. We operate summer programs at the Ladeara Crest and Ledges sites from 10am until 5pm. The Kids Cafe sites will operate during the summer but program days and hours have not been determined. Northwest Middle School is the only site that charges a minimal activity fee of $40 per month. All other sites are free to participants.

WHY ARE Support Our Students PROGRAMS SO IMPORTANT?

• Juvenile crime statistics show the highest number of incidences occur between the hours of 2:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m.

• Students report first time use of alcohol and drugs and first sexual experience during the unsupervised after school hours.

• Grades for students enrolled in an after school program are 78% higher that those students who receive no homework assistance.

• Teens who do not participate in after school programs are nearly three times more likely to skip classes at school than teens who do participate. They are also three times more likely to use marijuana or other drugs, and they are more likely to drink alcohol, smoke cigarettes and engage in sexual activity. (YMCA of the USA. After School for America's Teens, March 2001)