What Is Up & Out?
The Need
We live in a different day and age. The number of at-risk youth are increasing exponentially today. More often than not, young people have missed instrumental educational and personal development due to trauma, a latch-key environment, and/or the new educational push of “no child left behind”, which can award a diploma but leave major learning gaps. This now has been compounded on a greater level because of COVID-19. By the time young adults reach the age of 18, they are expected to be self-sufficient whether it be at a higher learning institute or in the work-force. More often than not, neither one of these are true. Up & Out helps to provide a safety net while training young people to transition to the next stage in life. Plain and simple, we teach youth how to work, fill in the educational gaps, and give them the life skills needed to succeed. Why? Because it’s the least we can do to help these young people have the opportunity to make a difference in our world.
The Goal
The best way to define the goal is to define what we mean by “youth upreach”.
Up·reach (/’əprēCH/): teaching youth to extend their vision and efforts towards a higher life with God and to discover their purpose and calling.
TeenHaven.Live is like the rope that can pull youth out of some very rough waters. This takes a lot of work on our end. We have not all been born into equal situations with equal opportunities and the youth are in some very challenging situations that makes it hard to win in life. This is why we have come to live by the verse 2 Corinthians 12:15, that we will “gladly spend and be spent” that these youth might have a chance.
But, the goal of Up & Out is not just keeping people off the streets, we are helping them realize their God-given potential through education, discipline, and spiritual mentoring. This program often requires these youth to be taken out of their situations and planted in a different location to give them a new life. With this upreach, it’s not just a home to live in or a place to crash, it requires buy-in and an understanding that upreach is work, and sometimes, very uncomfortable, but the result is worth it.
Who Is This For?
Up & Out is for young adults from ages 16 to sometimes those even in their 30’s. Life skills do not happen overnight and educational gaps take time to fill. Sometimes, when the realization hits, seemingly simple tasks can seem daunting and the temptation to quit looks like a better option than living through the depression of failure. We are here to hold their arms up and believe in them when they don’t believe in themselves. This often is over half the battle.
What does this look like day-to-day?
The College Student
As a first-generation college student, keeping up with self-paced assignments can be tricky! Especially when in high school, the teachers weren’t even assigning any homework. Helping these students learn how to budget their time and stay on track is a daily necessity in the beginning. This also may include teaching basic grammar skills on the fly. For every hour other students may take to complete an assignment, these students may need five. Imagine needing to read side by side with a dictionary because the majority of the textbook words are foreign to you.
Most of these students cannot work and keep up with their academics. But, they also cannot afford not to work (due to rent, food, school supplies, tuition, etc.). So, by faith, we have opened a discretionary fund to help support these students as they are in need.
What’s a Work Day?
We have also come to find that young people have lost the art of work ethic. Honestly, it’s not their fault. Most of it is due to a lack of parenting. Therefore, we are determined to help instill these qualities into the youth in our sphere of influence by creating a work day. As it stands, every Friday, we run a Work Day. We find any project, or any need in the community, and devote a day’s worth of labor to the project. At the end, we pay what’s fair, not more and not less, just like a normal job. The bonus is the fellowship and mentorship along the way.
Email Us: contactus@teenhaven.live
Contact
TeenHaven.Live
The Center:
562 W. Market St. York, PA 17401 (rear)
Mailing Address:
PO Box 1135, York, PA 17405
contactus@teenhaven.live / 717.356.0036