Teenagers from the Española YMCA Teen Center participate in the Harvest Youth Parade. Courtesy/YMCAYMCA News:
ESPAÑOLA ― A $10,000 grant award from the Santa Fe Community Foundation to the Española YMCA Teen Center will be used to help guide local youth toward healthy choices and positive behaviors.
The Center was awarded the funding in alignment with the foundation’s educational success and career pathways priorities.
“We are very grateful that the Santa Fe Community Foundation recognizes and supports educational resources for youth. They are helping us tutor children to meet educational benchmarks in reading and math, and helping us connect youth to continuing education,” Center Director Ben Sandoval said.
The Foundation’s gift was supplemented with a $1,000 gift from the Jack and Mary Gillian Endowment, and a $250 gift from the Phillip Haworth and Gayle Mills Fund.
The award will support tutoring, skill-building educational classes, and character development activities including field trips, sports and recreation programs, service projects and substance abuse prevention activities.
“We are fortunate to have neighbors who want to partner to support the education of community youth,” said CEO Rob Wilkinson of The Family YMCA in Los Alamos.
The Española YMCA Teen Center is operated under a contract by The Family YMCA. It also is partly funded by the City of Española and several private and public partners.
Sandoval said this support helps ensure ongoing personal support and guidance to the youth who walk through the doors, and covers the cost for tutors and enriching programming.
“It is making a difference in the lives of the youth we serve,” he said.
The Española YMCA Teen Center collaborates with more than 40 partners in Española in support of teens.
About The Española YMCA Teen Center (EYTC)
The Center opened in 2007 and is administered by The Family YMCA under an operating contract with the City of Española. In 2018, the Center served 700 youth. In 2019, separate private funding is sending the EYTC’s robotics team to China to compete at an international RoboRAVE.
