The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Jonathon Naylor Editor Area teens and adolescents will lose a place to call their own when the Community Youth Resource Centre closes its doors next weekend. Officials say ongoing federal funding to operate the centre, based in the lower level of the Lutheran Church, has been cut off. 'At this point in time it has to close. We just don't have the resources to keep it going,' said Shelly Craig, executive director of the Flin Flon Aboriginal Friendship Centre, which operates the youth centre. No funds Craig had sought $156,000 for the year from Ottawa's Cultural Connections for Aboriginal Youth (CCAY) program. The youth centre had been recommended for an increase over the $104,000 received last year, which accounted for about 75 per cent of its total budget. Not only did the $52,000 increase not materialize, no funding whatsoever came through. See 'Other...' on pg. 7 Continued from pg. 1 Craig said her understanding is that CCAY will start focusing more on job training and education rather than initiatives like youth centres. As a result, the Community Youth Resource Centre will shut down on June 30 after a dozen years in operation. Craig said the focus now is on trying to secure other sources of funding, though she doubts the centre will ever return to its current form after closing. Decisions must also be made on how to spend the roughly $20,000 to $25,000 of the youth centre budget still being funded through sources such as the Manitoba government. Some youth activities will still be provided at an undetermined location. 'Obviously it will be on a significantly smaller scale,' Craig said. News of the closure was a surprise and a disappointment to city councillor Tim Babcock. "The staff at the youth centre have worked hard to provide a safe, fun place for youth in our community," he said, "and it is a shame that their doors are being forced to close." A key to the youth centre is its hours of operation. It is open seven days a week from 4-10 p.m. each day except Sunday, when it closes at 8 p.m. That allows many teens and adolescents flexibility in when they attend the centre, which offers structured activities as well as 'free' time. Craig said 421 youth accessed the centre nearly 9,000 times in the latest fiscal year. It serves those between the ages of 10 and 20, three-quarters of whom are of aboriginal descent. Craig praised the centre as 'youth-driven,' with the young people themselves shaping the programming. 'If they identified doing a dance or a social gathering, it was the youth who coordinated it, it wasn't us,' she said. Craig said she does not understand why the funding change could not have taken effect in the next fiscal year instead of 'midstream.' She said the youth are 'mystified' by the pending closure. They aren't the only ones who will feel the impact, as the centre employs six people.
