I tried to start one in St. Catharines, Ont but it got shot down faster than a Russian satellite coz adults there I guess don’t care about teens and/or don’t think very highly of them. If you don’t know the area, at night it swarms w/ teens who have nothing to do. (and don’t say "get a job", there are hardly any jobs for teens in North America).
So, I had the paperwork done, and found someone interested in funding it. I would like to try again!
I’d start the first Teen Centre where I live in southern Ontario and maybe 1 day it’ll spread across North America
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These are my ideas. Please tell me what you think.
YES YA! THIS *IS* A QUESTION, I’M ASKING FOR AN OPINION AND SUGGESTIONS.
*min. adult supervision- needs to be adults who are laidback (ex: if you deal drugs you get in trouble, but if you’re swearing they leave you alone). I don’t want it crawling w/ adults. I’d prefer the adults to be young, but mature.
*dress however you want but NO gang affliation
*no weapons, drugs, or alcohol (sorry it has to be legal)
*for ages 14-18 (assistants ages 19-21)
*cafe (all types of food/drink)
*movie night (14A or R) every Fri 8pm
*amateur night every Sat 7-9pm (come show your stuff), dance every Sat 9pm-midnight
*teen centre open M-Th 3pm-10pm, and Fri+Sat 11am-midnight
*optional volunteer work
*optional counseling (maybe)
*optional peer tutoring (language, English, math, science,etc)
*optional life skills courses: infant, sex/relationships, CPR, cooking, cars, college, money etc
*fashion show (summer/winter)
*no bullying policy
*no discrimination policy
*FREE membership. You pay for the events. Ex: $2 for the movie night
*sign in/out of the centre
*teambuilding events
*presentations-if a teen or teens want to present an issue or artwork, etc
*maybe photography club
*sports- BB court, skateboard park
Any other ideas? Do you like it or not?
I forgot there would be games like pool/snooker, air hockey, and other things
It’s Canada obviously there would be a hockey rink
Bess’d: did you read ??
must be a mystery: I’m thinking the exact way you’re thinking! : ) Yes, I want a soda/juice/ Tiki Bar there, I want adults in jeans and blending in, I want uncensored music. I will need some organization but not real rigid.
ok, 9pm for movies?
Ella: to you, everything is boring right now. You really need to be seeing a psychologist. I know I’m a bytch, but I can’t emphasis it enough.
**IT IS REALLY IMPORTANT THAT THE LIGHTS ARE OFF!***
100% AGREE
12 and 13 is WAY too young, those 15-18 aren’t gonna hang where 12 and 13 yr olds go. Sorry. Also, in St. Catharines, teens are already out til 2am
No offense taken Tess.
Can you tell us what those other things are?
Ella: a lot of us in the public are VERY worried about you.
"Do not talk to me like you no what I’m going through or what to do."
I’m not going to argue w/ you, but know I have walked half way in your shoes. Someone who loses some1 close to them is NOT able to cope through a trauma/tragedy alone. It’s humanely impossible. I am VERY worried about you, as are others.
Seeing as my own mum died and I work w/ teens going through issues, yes I kind of do know what’s best for you and that’s getting councilling.
Hiii: thanks for the suggestions ![]()
Ella: I have autism (bad social skills), but I posted it on her for a reason. I didn’t say what exactly is wrong, but I’m not the only 1 on her to worry about you. WE CARE ABOUT YOU. You don’t need my help, but you do need help from a professional. I’m not trying to be mean, but this is something I’d recommend to ANYONE who has gone through a major loss.
Hiii: yes suing is a problem. Structure is a definite. Age 12 is too young. It would be on the contract age 14 and older.
Ella: thank you for explaining! I’ll leave it alone now.
i would love it so much seeing as there is nothing for teens to do in my town, and when i say nothing i mean nothing, no movie theaters, no bowling, no clothes stores, the only pool is on the rich part of town and we cant afford to go to it (i mean really, $350 to swim in a pool for a summer), and then adults get mad when we hand out in parks, which they say are for little kids, and on corners, they assume we are drug dealers or something, so we resort to sitting in friends basements, which gets really boring after about 5 minutes. we sit inside and our parents tell us to get out of the house, so we go outside and adults yell at us to leave where ever we are because since were 17 we must be up to no good. we do have a rec center but its mainly kids under the age of 12 there, its just one big room with a pool table in the middle with half the balls missing in the basement of a community center, so not to much fun. it would be great to just have somewhere to go to just hang out and have fun, plus it would have a huge influence on the kids in the town, who you cant exactly blame for getting in trouble when theres nothing to do and nobody gives a crap about them. you would have a lot of trouble keeping the gangs and drugs out in my town though, but if you found a way, it would be so cool to just have a safe place to chill where we feel we are supposed to be there. maybe it would be cool if you had another part of the building for younger kids, like half would be a teen zone and half would be a kid zone, and you have to be a certain age for each, because i know in my town we really could use a way to give the little kids a safe fun place to go after school. if only you could come down to where i am in NY to do it.

there should be a bullying policy and some alcohol xD aha. And movie night on saturday.
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I like your idea.(:
But, in my opinion, the less organization, the better. No joke. The best times I’ve had with my friends have been doing something completely random, like "watching a movie" at school, which usually means everyone goofs off and just talks and mixes weird food together, takes pictures and crap.
Will there be food? There should be. Have a "bar." Just not alcohol.
***IT IS REALLY IMPORTANT THAT THE LIGHTS ARE OFF!***
Also, have a song request list, and DO NOT play the censored versions of the songs unless every other word is a curse word.
Don’t have the adults like, standing there watching, either. I hate that crap. Make sure they’re "occupied" (you know, working at the "bar" or something.). Even dancing. Or hanging out with everyone. Make sure they blend in. They can’t wear "business clothes," for example. They should be wearing some sort of appropriate club wear.
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make the movies start later than 8 maybe 9 or 10
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