Priority 3: Development

  So the kids know that Joel's Place is safe.  They come here and have lots of fun and eat lots of food and are off the streets.  We're done here, right?  We give them a place to skate so that they don't bother the rest of society, right?

     No.  No.  Emphatically no.  The heart of what we do, the central purpose for our existence as an organization is what comes after the fun.  The fun is the bridge builder.  It connects us with the young men and women who come through our doors.  It establishes trust and dialogue.  It grants us a voice into the life of our teens.  What we do with that voice is the critical part.

     My label for this priority is "Development" but really that encapsulates anything that invests resources into the youth.  Our goal is that the kids will leave Joel's Place more capable of thriving in their world then when they arrived.

     We offer tutoring and courses in job skills and life skills.  We offer internships and mentoring, Bible Studies and devotionals.  If there is a skill that a teenager wants to learn, we will usually be able to find an instructor.  We have hosted instrument lessons and art lessons and videography lessons and cooking lessons and gardening lessons and bike repair lessons, just to name a few.

     Why bother?  Why link recreation and the pursuit of fun with the hard work of resource building?  Vision.  Specifically long term vision.  Every young person who comes through our doors, whether they be homeless or honor roll student, has a challenging road ahead of them.  This world specializes in breeding fear, destroying self-esteem and corrupting the soul.  The internet and media are brimming with anger, greed and lust.  Our vision is that these young people will mature into world-changers...they will use the unique passions and abilities that they have been create with in order to bless the world.  That process starts when they know that someone else believes in them.  The process succeeds when they know that they believe in themself.  Developing skills, abilities and character gives young people a solid foundation to stand on and a confidence to approach the world that has so often marginalized them.  We do not operate a skate park in order to provide a few hours of baby-sitting.  We operate a skate park in order to raise up the leaders of tomorrow.

     I know several people who have told me that the time they spent at Joel's Place were the best days of their lives.  My hope is that when this generation of kids grow up they will say that the time they spent at Joel's Place gave them the tools to make their lives better and better.