ATTACHMENT 1

From: Robert Humphreys [mailto:[email protected]] 
Sent: Thursday, October 12, 2006 8:22 AM
To: [email protected]
Cc: Town Council; Kathryn Spatz; Roger Stancil; [email protected]
Subject: Street Scene Teen Center, INC
 

Dear Councilwoman Easthom,

 Rumor has it that you are looking for information on our organization and it's operation as it relates to a derogatory statement in a recent CH Herald article. I thought it might help if I try to introduce Street Scene to you from my perspective as a native Chapel Hillian, 13 year Executive Director of the former Chapel Hill Downtown Commission, and more importantly, President of the Street Scene Board of Directors.  At the risk of boring you with too many details, I'd like to start at the beginning so as to give you adequate background information on which to base your opinion.

 Chapel Hill has always been undeniably a college oriented town, businesses cater to the college students, public emphasis is on college sports and arts, and so on; as such, local teens are often left out. It's a fun place to grow up, but a hard place  to be a teenager. Street Scene is the fourth private, non-profit teen center to operate in Downtown Chapel Hill since the mid 50's, in an effort to provide a place for Chapel Hill area teens to hang out in a safe and positive atmosphere free from drugs and alcohol. (The others only lasted about 3 to 5 years each). Street Scene, Inc, a private, non profit NC corporation contracted with the Town in 1983 to lease (the usual $1 per year public lease)  the basement of the Post Office to build and operate a Teen Center, at no cost to the Town for renovations. Construction, utilizing donated funds, materials and labor, took until March, 1985 when we opened our doors. In the beginning, we only had funding for a weekend program, but our dream was to be open after school as well. In 1994, current Street Scene Vice President, Carol Walborn was Arts & Events Specialist and Youth Programs coordinator with CH P&R and they needed additional teen programs.  She approached us with the idea of a partnership for an afterschool program; with Street Scene, Inc providing space and equipment, and P&R providing staff and supplies for their program hours which were 4 to 7 Monday thru Friday with variations during the summer months.  Over the years there have been few changes and this partnership has worked very well from all perspectives.

 The hardest lesson for us in the beginning was that there is no such thing as a "teenager". So over the  last 21 years of operation, Street Scene has always tried to appeal to all the different groups of teens in our community. In fact it is this policy that has lead to 21 years of success for us.  One of the major differentiating factors in these teen groups is music and so we have always tried to have one kind of music one week, another kind the next, and so on; so that we might have a Rap DJ one Friday; a Preppie Band, the next; and a Punk band, the following.  Each night brings in a different crowd, and  a few kids from each night like the place enough to come back again and again, even when their music and group isn't featured.  This mix of kids from the different groups becomes our "core" group, who come regularly regardless of what's going on.  We are currently in a transitional stage where our core group is ageing out and moving on and we are developing a new core.  In the course of attracting and appealing to as many of the teens in our community as we can, we get ALL the groups of teens. Unfortunately, some, in almost every group, drink or use drugs, but not in or around Street Scene.  We have a policy of ZERO tolerance for drugs and alcohol, PERIOD. If a teen comes in and we smell alcohol or suspect he is using, he is not allowed in and is usually barred for a period of time- a week, a month, or permanently.  We have also always had a ZERO tolerance for any kind of gang related behavior and was, in fact, shocked to learn that what we thought was just bad art on our "graffiti" wall was indeed gang symbols!  We immediately contacted Chief Jarvis, and arranged for the CHPD Gang Unit to come down and teach all the staff, ours and P&R, about recognizing gang related activities.  The Gang Unit reaffirmed our beliefs and told us they did not believe that gangs were present in or around Street Scene but we were all made aware of the importance of keeping them out. They believed that our graffiti was put there by young teens who thought it was cool to do so, but with no ties to the gangs themselves.  (As we both have added new staff recently, it is time to do another workshop with those officers.)

 From our point of view the Street Scene/Parks and Rec. cosponsored Afterschool Program has been a win-win for all concerned: the kids for having an adult-supervised space that is fun and safe, and has zero tolerance for drug, alcohol, and gang-related activities; for Street Scene because we never had the funding to expand into staffing the after school time frame; and for Parks and Rec. because it allows them to provide recreational programs to teens who do not ordinarily take advantage of other P & R structured programs in multi-use, public spaces. Street Scene is all about the teens - it is their space, supervised by adults but governed in terms of activities by the teens themselves through the Street Scene Teen Board.

 Street Scene has worked as a weekend, recreational and educational program for 21 years, and has benefited from CH P&R's involvement in Afterschool for twelve years. The positive impact on the lives of community teens and their families cannot be overstated. Thousands of local teens have had one of the only teen-dedicated spaces in the country to provide them with community service leaning hours, community volunteer projects, and educational/recreational programs cosponsored with agencies and organizations including UNC School of Social Work, UNC Education Dept., UNC Communications Dept.,Chapel Hill-Carrboro Schools, Orange County Health Dept., Interfaith Council, Concern of Durham, the Ackland Art Museum, the ArtsCenter, the Chapel Hill Service League, the Chapel Hill Police Dept., and the Chapel Hill Parks and Recreation Dept.

 The Street Scene's music programs, DJ nights, and live band nights have provided young musicians a place to perform for their peers and a place to dance on Friday nights. The music training in the music room by local, professional musicians has helped the teens find positive ways to spend their free time. The computer lab provides supervised internet access, homework research, art projects, and creative writing projects. The computer lab is currently being replenished with all new equipment supplied by the Street Scene non-profit organization as a result of our successful 12th annual poster sale fundraiser. The annual poster sale also supports the director's and other staff salaries, the purchase of pool tables, air hockey tables, music equipment, and other miscellaneous expenses such as special field trips, furniture, insurance, and equipment repairs, etc.

 Except for the Afterschool staff salaries (approx. $12,000 from P&R), and a small grant from the Town's Human Services Committee, Street Scene is a self-supporting operation that utilizes local adult volunteers, college students, Town and private agencies, education/recreation professionals, and business people to support this efficient, positive, dedicated space for local teens in downtown Chapel Hill. Our attendance records show 7,450 "service units" for 04/05 and 8,375, for 05/06. (SERVICE UNITS - the unit of measure for non-profits. EX: A teen is counted once everyday as he or she comes in. So if a teen were to come down every day of the week, that one teen would account for 6 service units.) We're open 6 days (23 hours) per week, about 50 weeks or 1,150 hours per year, so for 05/06, we averaged just over 7 teens participating per hour!  The cost to the Town for this service is $1.61 per teen per day!

 In addition, we allow the Applechill Cloggers and the Cane Creek Cloggers to use our space, free of charge, 2 to 3 nights a week after Street Scene closes for their rehearsals and classes. This has allowed CH Parks & Recreation Dept. to provide free clogging classes to the public. Volunteers for Youth, ARC of Orange County, and other non-profits have enjoyed the use of the Center over the years for closed parties and activities as well.

 I have attached the text from the Town Proclamation that the Town Council approved and the Mayor signed last year as we celebrated our 20th Anniversary and hope you will take the time to read it.

 We would love to meet with you and any of the members of the Council or Staff and show you Street Scene. The Town is and has been our partner in Street Scene for over 21 years and we want everyone in Town Government to be as proud of OUR Center as we are.  I have taken the liberty of copying this email to all Council members, Roger Stancil,Chief Greg Jarvis, and Kathryn Spatz; and invite you to share this information and invitation with anyone who might be interested.  If we can help you with any other information on Street Scene, please feel free to ask.  We appreciate the Town's generosity in providing a place for Street Scene and would never do anything to jeopardize our relationship. Street Scene can not survive without the support of the Town Council, so my time is yours whenever you want it! (I do work full time for UNC, but with notice can meet with you at your convenience.) Thank you for your interest in Street Scene and I hope this information begins to answer your questions and concerns.

 In closing, let me share a quote that has driven us at Street Scene for over 20 years: "Too often we forget to tell teens they're special, and then we lose them to the first person who does."

Sincerely,

Robert Humphreys

President of Street Scene Teen Center, Inc.