EDGE Teen Center
7568 Wyandot Lane #2
Liberty Township, OH 45044
EDGE Teen Center’s Afterschool Program
Grant Application:
EDGE Teen Center’s mission is to empower teens to impact the world. We do this by providing high school students with a diverse, youth-driven teen center committed to creating mentoring relationships with caring adults. Every day after school, staff and volunteers facilitate programs that challenge students to become the best version of themselves. We serve teens through four key programs: Healthy Living, Academic Success, Life Skills and Community Service. Any teen in grades 9-12 may take part in EDGE programs that encourage them to grow personally, socially, and academically.
Our desired outcome is for teens to become caring, responsible and productive adults. Goals of the EDGE after-school program are to empower teens and to positively impact their knowledge, attitudes, self-efficacy and behavior while helping them acquire the tools to navigate the complexities of life. Positive impact and outcomes only occur after successful engagement; therefore, we track our performance in engaging teens. Of the teens who regularly attend our after-school program, our desired outcomes are that at least 85% will report enjoying their experience at EDGE and 90% of all freshmen return in their sophomore year.
Additional desired outcomes are that 95% will advance to the next grade, 75% will report increased knowledge about post-secondary options available to them (i.e., enroll, enlist, employment, entrepreneurship), 75% report feeling better able to deal with day-to-day life stressors than they could one year ago, and 50% take part in community service learning opportunities.
In addition to these statistical goals, the 2022-2023 school year included the launch of a full time after school program at an additional site, EDGE@West.
Grant Evaluation Report:
This has been a year of growth for the EDGE Teen Center. In August of 2022, in collaboration with West Chester MidPointe Library, we reopened a second campus to serve Lakota West High School students, EDGE@West. This location provides all the mentorship, programs and services that are offered at our original EDGE@East location, but in the community rooms at the MidPointe Library. At the time of this follow up report, EDGE@West has served 160 unique teens through the afterschool program with average daily attendance between 50-60 teens each day. We have also experienced growth at our EDGE@East location this year which has served 171 unique students and is seeing average daily attendance between 45-55 students each day.
In addition to the after school environments, we have also provided 128 community service opportunities for students through these locations. Students have weekly opportunities to catch the EDGE van to go to offsite non-profit organizations to serve in their community and weekly opportunities to complete projects inside the afterschool programs. 150 teens have utilized our community service program to make a difference in the community so far this school year. We anticipate this number to double by the end of May. This program has rebounded and grown this year as restrictions on volunteers have eased post pandemic.
While the impact numbers are impressive, we would like to offer a few snapshots of impact as well. This year, out of a desire to serve the most vulnerable teens in our community, we partnered with Butler County Juvenile Probation. After our staff presented to the probation officers, they began to share our programming with the teens they work with. As a result, we saw an increase in teens on probation participating in the EDGE Community Service Program. On one of these outings, our Community Service Coordinator, took students to Hope House in Middletown to serve dinner. While cooking, one of the primary volunteers for Hope House shared his story of incarceration and that a couple bad choices can change your whole life. Following his story, one of the teens on probation talked to him in depth about his life and this adult volunteer was able to offer some advice and hope to this young man.
We are experiencing the same uptick in mental health challenges that many organizations are seeing this year. One of our teens had particularly bonded to one of our front desk volunteers. She shared some of her struggles with Nancy, who many of our teens call Grams. Nancy suggested that she attend the group mental health session that was happening that day but this teen was intimidated so Nancy talked to the counselor and was able to attend the program with this struggling student to make her more comfortable.
During the summer program, Kemba Credit Union came and talked to a group of teens about budgeting and getting their first jobs. One of the teens, an ESL student, asked the presenter afterward if Kemba hired teenagers because she wanted to start working towards a career that would not require a college degree. This Kemba Executive took her information and was so impressed with her confidence and professionalism that they have her a job doing files. She is still working for them and they plan to hire her when she graduates.
These stories are a snapshot of the impact that happens each day in both of our locations. Without support from the Dater Foundation, these staff members and volunteers would not have had the opportunity to change the trajectory of these teenagers’ lives from inside the walls of EDGE@East and EDGE@West.
Program Results:
98% report enjoying their experience
90% of freshman will returned in their sophomore year
97% advanced to the next grade
80% reported increased knowledge of post-secondary
72% have taken part in community service learning opportunities
Average Daily attendance by school year:
EDGE@East
2021-2022 36 teens
2022-2023 46 teens
EDGE@West
2021-2022 38 teens
2022-2023 50 teens
Website:
http://www.edgeteencenter.com Amount: $25,000
Date: March 2022
