Youth Development
Providing for opportunities for all youth in Takoma Park to develop to their full potential is a priority community concern for Takoma Park and Long Branch. CHEER has facilitated this priority by convening the Takoma Park Youth Collaborative and acting as fiscal agent for Lunch and Learn.
The Youth Collaborative was formed in 2014 as a consequence of a community wide process examining what can be done to help young people make successful transitions to adulthood. The Youth collaborative conducted the Who wants to Work challenge to teach young people, which teaches employment readiness skills to youth ages 16 to 21, and the Youth Entrepreneur Program, which takes youth ages 14 to 21 through the process of building and implementing a business idea.
Camp Piney Branch is a summer youth program at a new site in Long Branch. Camp Piney Branch provides continued academic support for families with school age children during the summer time. Camp Piney Branch provides breakfast and lunch to school aged children during the summer and also provides fun educational activities for families to do in groups or on their own. In 2021, 48 youth enrolled in the camp.
Local teenagers participating in the 2020 Community Clean Up
Camp Piney Branch children participating in outdoor activiites
Don't Pollute
In collaboration with Nature Forward and Defensores de la Cuenca, Long Branch teenagers are learning more about the
environment and environmental advocacy through a series of presentations and demonstrations from various organizations.
These teens will then come up with their own environmental campaign to help address issues surrounding the
Long Branch watershed.
Montgomery College Tour 2022
On April 9th, 2022 , our Empowement and Leadership team took local middle schoolers and higher schoolers on a trip to Montgomery Community College. At the college, students were able to tour the campus, learn about the admissions and financial aid process, and have a social lunch with students from the campus.
To read more, click on the image below!
Youth Spotlight
Questions?
If you have any other questions about this program, please contact Kent Sovine at kent@communitycheer.org