Thunderbird Center serves hard-to-reach youth.

The Thunderbird Teen Center is a new facility which goes well beyond traditional recreation activities to serve teens. The center incorporates an eclectic approach in providing accessible and affordable social services for teenagers. It has a three-pronged programming approach which includes recreation, education and training and prevention.

Each component is delivered in a manner that will grab a teenager's attention, and teenagers give a large amount of input to assure success. The recreation program includes activities such as talent shows, adventure trips, game room activities, special events, dances, sports, and tournaments. Recreation is usually the first contact the staff have with the youth. At this point, through positive, genuine interaction, the youth feel more comfortable with the staff in an employment capacity. The staff can then refer youth to any of the other two components located at the center. This in-house referral system makes the staff's jobs much easier.

Thunderbird's education and training component consists of the Recreation Internship Program (RIP) and the TechCARE program. RIP is a job training program that provides youths, ages 15 to 19, an opportunity to be mentored by a departmental staff member in an employment capacity. This experience incorporates virtually all aspects of a recreation professional's job responsibilities. Teens receive 90 hours of field experience and 30 hours of classroom training, such as interview techniques, communication skills, and policies and procedures. Me TechCARE program (Teens using Technology for the Creative Arts, Recreation, and Education) incorporates three multimedia computers which allow teens and staff to interact with one another.

Partnership Program

This program works in partnership with local schools and businesses, provides cultural awareness sessions, tutoring, creative writing seminars, an extensive informational database, computer literacy, life skills training, financial aid, college search/ application assistance, and job training.

In addition, a professional music studio is available to teens. They can walk in and, with a little work, walk out with a professional demo tape, which can be utilized to advertise their talents -- all while they learn the technical aspects of music production. Both of these programs strive to raise self-esteem, as well as give the youth skills that are transferrable in any work place.

The third component of the teen center consists of prevention-based services, funded through Comcare (The Arizona Behavioral Health Services Provider). This program incorporates theater, dance, gang and high school drop out prevention, and positive decision making skills in what is called the T.E.E.N. Program (Total Education Enrichment Network).

This program strives to counteract the negative factors that youths face on a daily basis, and assist them in having a positive outlook, increased self-esteem, and positive decision making skills. This type of approach in programming provides attractive activities and services to a hard-to-reach population.

For more information on the Thunderbird Teen Center, please call Scott Glenn, center director or Manny Tarango, assistant director at [phone], or write to The Thunderbird Teen Center, 1104 East Grovers, Building A, Phoenix, AZ 85022.