A Haven for Youths : Center Founder Hopes to Reach Out to More Teen-Agers

After shaping the Glendale Teen Support Center’s operations for nearly a year, founder Sheila Ellis says the next step will be to extend services for youths in the community.

“We have spent the first year of operation really learning how to walk on our own,” Ellis said. “We had a mission. We had objectives, and we were right on target with the things we wanted to do.

“Next year, our goal is to become more

visible in the community,” said the mother of three children, two of whom have graduated from Glendale schools. “We’ve sown a lot of seeds in Glendale. Now it’s time for us to start nurturing those seeds and watch them flower.”

Ellis shared her thoughts on the Teen Support Center before its first-year anniversary celebration, which was held Monday night as part of a fund-raiser.

The center opened its doors Nov. 16, 1992, with the goals of providing a safe, drug-free environment, stressing the importance of respecting other ethnic groups and lifestyles, offering peer support and educating youths on such topics as gangs.

Nearly 3 1/2 years before that, Ellis offered her home for teen-agers to meet weekly after her daughters told her that students didn’t have a place to hang out after school in Glendale.

The center, in a renovated dental office at 115 E. Lexington Drive, has a snack bar with tables and chairs, a jukebox, TV room, a study room with computers and a pool table--most of which were donated. Tutoring is also available, and an adult coordinator supervises the facility.

A group of teen-agers, called the Youth Participation Council, oversees operations along with a board of adult directors.

Although the place has attracted an average of 30 to 50 students after school, Ellis would like to explore how other programs in the community can benefit from the center’s services, which include training sessions on how to handle teen-age conflicts. Meetings with local library and YWCA officials have been scheduled. Ellis declined to elaborate on possible ventures because no agreements have been made.

“I think what we really want to do is be utilized as a networking center,” Ellis said. “We do a lot of networking. And when teens have needs, we help them determine which way they want to go.”

Of course, none of this could continue without funding, an area the center struggled with in the beginning of the year. But it has since rebounded to maintain its $12,000 monthly budget.

For example, a last-minute $15,000 donation from the Glendale Galleria and $2,000 from smaller donors saved the center from shutting down in March. Four months later, the center obtained a $25,000 gift--its largest to date--from the Weingart Foundation to keep services afloat and to pay for rent, salaries, utilities and insurance.

“We’ve gone a long way in establishing ourselves as a credible entity in Glendale,” Ellis said.

Monday night’s fund-raiser was an indication of that credibility within the community. The event raked in another $10,000, including a $2,500 check from the Gateway Kiwanis Club of Glendale.

More than 100 adults toured the center before joining 200 others to watch a special theatrical performance of “Steel Magnolias” at the Glendale Center Theatre.

Marion Bownds, 77, of Glendale, and her husband were among the first-time visitors.

“I think it’s very nice,” said Bownds, who hadn’t known that the center opened last year.

“We didn’t realize there was this much room here. We think it’s great for the teen-agers.”

Also honored that evening for their contributions to the center were Judee Kendall, publisher of the Glendale News-Press, and Glendale Mayor Larry Zarian.

“The center must go on,” Zarian said in accepting his award. Supporters have seen a change in the kids who use the center.

After a fight nearly broke out between two groups of teen-agers in front of the center in July, youths, staff and police met and developed guidelines under which people had to show identification before entering. The youths must also fill out an emergency contact card and sign a contract saying they will follow rules and not verbally abuse others, or be barred for a period of time or perform cleanup work.

“I think when it really started, it was a ‘good kid’ hangout,” said Glendale Police Sgt. Rick Young. “It has changed to the point in which mostly one group of people have taken over to use it as a hangout. These kids are what I consider at-risk kids and in desperate need of some attention and guidance.”

Despite the changing makeup of those frequenting the facility, some of the youths who first used it, like Juyoung Kim, say they still enjoy dropping by.

“Most of the time I come here is when I don’t have that much homework,” said Kim, a 17-year-old senior at Glendale High School. “I like meeting people. Most of the time I leave here meeting someone new.”

Ellis acknowledges the changes at the center but believes its wide range of services will continually attract a diverse group of youths.

“The center is always going to be in transition in terms of the population of the kids who go there,” Ellis said. “Kids came and went as they needed us.

“As the time passes, I believe the mixture will constantly change.”