Our Youth Are Our Future

Who We Serve

Building a Better You is an after-school program serving youth age 13 to 19. The program is particularly beneficial for teens struggling with trauma, behavioral concerns, depression, anxiety, school performance issues, and challenging personal relationships.

Building the Foundation

Our youth are our future. We know their potential, and we recognize the barriers that can keep them from reaching their full potential, including, for example, psychological trauma, exposure to violence, hunger, and lack of opportunity.

Foundational Tools

When given effective barrier-breaking tools, we see our students thriving.

Students talk with each other about what they are experiencing at home, school, work, or in the community. 

Conversation structures and safety rules are developed by the group leader(s) and participants. Topics have included:

  • Maintaining emotional well-being.
  • Managing mental health symptoms.
  • Practicing clear communications and conversations.
  • Building consistent self-care and self-esteem practices. 
  • Preserving healthy relationships.
  • Recognizing and correcting unhealthy situations. 
  • Controlling anger by regulating emotions.
  • Problem solving.

We’re here for every conversation, from supportive to tough, providing support they won’t find elsewhere. 

Our youth are encouraged to look to each other for help. They learn how to tap into their common experiences, and work together to figure out practical ways to cope with their problems.  

As they break bread together, our youth make good friends. It’s an easy – and nutritious – way get to know and trust one another.

We share a meal together at every session!

Our students participate in physical activities weekly, with the goals of decreasing their risk of serious illnesses, preventing obesity, boosting their confidence, and improving their academic performance.

Activities include (but are not limited to): yoga, pilates, dance, basketball, and aerobics. Sometimes we invite family members to join in these physical activities, too.

We provide tools to help our students build a stable financial future, including lessons in:

  • Setting financial goals.
  • Budgeting and saving.
  • Managing debt: Understanding the causes, credit reports, and scores.
  • Investing
  • Long-Term financial planning.

Youth in our program have ready-access to licensed social workers and therapists at PYC.  

It’s seriously important that our youth have some good fun together. We do art projects, play board games, dance, make music, go on field trips, create videos, write and tell stories… lots of things that bring smiles and laughter to life!