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To young people who have
needed resources from employment skills
to AIDS and drug abuse prevention, Yours
Ours Mine Community Center has been a valued
resource for nearly three decades.
What I have tried to do the last 34 years
is not duplicate what other youth organizations
have been doing from the beginning. The
Community Center started out as a Youth
Center; however, the community’s
needs have changed in the last 34 years.
The agency has changed by diversifying
and providing the kinds of services to
maintain and improve the quality of life
for children and families.
YOM is a not for profit, multi human service
organization serving residents of Levittown
and surrounding communities from 3 years
of age to 60 years and over. I estimate
that the organization’s Youth Programs
served 1,400 children and adolescents from
Levittown and surrounding communities.
The programs include Nursery Day Care,
Universal Pre-Kindergarten, Kindergarten,
Before and After School Child Care, Family
Life/Youth Development, Chemical Dependency
Prevention Services, Senior Nutrition and
Adult Day Care Services.
The primary reason for having leisure
time activities at Levittown Memorial Education
Center on Friday evenings from 7:00p.m.
to 10:00p.m. is to attract young people
to come. If they have problems, we can
begin to deal with those problems, and
include the family structure within the
process.
Much as the other agencies that serve
Levittown’s young people have done,
the Community Center has added programs
that help young people and their parents
deal with changing times to include Youth
Guidance, Youth Employment opportunities,
Vocational/Educational enrichment services.
There are 122 children registered in the
After School Child Care Program at YOM,
a reflection of the number of Levittown
families in which the parents/guardians
work.
A lack of evening activities for many
adolescents from 14 to 17 years of age
is an acute problem. I refer to those at-risk
youth the “non-joiners;” adolescents
who don’t play varsity basketball,
wrestling or intramural sports or perform
in a school band. They do not have a place
to go at night, since the closing of the
BMX bike and skateboarding program in 1997,
raising of the minimum drinking age to
21 in the mid-80’s as obstacles to
the “non-joiners” socializing.
There remain nine swimming pools in Levittown
and not one is covered for winter recreation.
YOM is in the position in which many other
public agencies find themselves that of
providing more services with less of a
funding base, other than the sliding scale
fees, YOM participants pay for program
services. Of the Community Center’s
2.1 million dollar budget for 2003, only
55% of the funding comes from government
agencies, as opposed to 98% in 1988.
In addition to Town of Hempstead, Nassau
County and New York State support, fees,
Medicaid, Medicare, Managed Care reimbursements,
YOM receives funding from agencies such
as Long Island United Way, corporations
and private foundations.
Government funding streams continue to
change and I do not believe it will ever
be the same again. You lose staff; you
become a training facility because you
are not getting enough funding that you
need to help keep qualified people in
positions, which cause serious problems.
Originally, YOM was established to serve
a youth base of approximately 500, many
of them were hanging out on the nearby
Village Green and causing problems with
local neighbors and business owners. Now,
it’s a multi service organization
whose current participants are the sons
and daughters of its earliest. Eileen Ashley,
Trustee of YOM’s Board of Trustees,
was a participant in the Youth Program
as well as her brother Tom, who is currently
a school Principal in Narragansett, Rhode
Island, Marc Mlotok, Treasurer and Lisa
Bocchetti, soon to be Trustee.
Community service workers, volunteers
and students from Molloy College, Adelphi
University and Nassau Community College,
have supplemented the day-to-day YOM staff.
Setting the policies are members of YOM’s
Board of Trustees: Robert Pipia, Esq.-
Board’s Chair, Thomas Shiel - Vice
Chair, Marc Mlotok - Treasurer, Todd Tufo
- Recording Secretary and Friederika Conway
- Corresponding Secretary. Other Board
members include Barbara Brown, Louise Cassano,
Lael Daniel, Gina DeGregorio, Susan Hahn,
Thomas McLaughlin, Joseph N. Mondello,
Esq., Dr. Jacklyn Nogan, James O’Connor,
Esq. George and Mary Orth.
As an African-American coming into a predominantly
white community, I experienced some unsettling
incidents when I was dispatched to set
up YOM in 1968 such as graffiti and unacceptable
language written on the facility. A few
years earlier, I opened up the Roosevelt
Youth Center, whose young participants
included Eddie Murphy and Julius Erving
(Dr. J) former Philadelphia 76’s
basketball star.
Those negative attitudes have changed
tremendously due to computer technology.
People are friendlier. I don’t see
it as a closed, closed community as compared
to what it was in 1968. Certainly, the
quality of life has been maintained, and
the residents saw to it by virtue of all
the volunteerism that goes on within the
various civic organizations.
The organization’s future is solid;
making ends meet is a constant challenge.
Community residents and corporations need
to increase their support of not-for-profit
agencies like YOM. We have to consider
pooling our resources by mergers, such
as Children and Family Association with
Family Service Association, forming collaborations
and partnerships, Endowment Funds, Trust
Funds, greater long range planning, and
Board Development.
I think Boards like YOM’s will have
to certainly consider merging with other
not for profits with common interests.
Then you will have some strength in terms
of presenting your mission in a much more
positive and meaningful way.
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