Youth City Lab is a dynamic shared space of learning.
1. It’s a place.
It will include an FYB bike store, Line4Line barber shop and library, performing arts venue for Humanities Amped, hub for Big Buddy programs, shared administrative space for the four nonprofits, community gardens and courtyards, and a balcony from which to watch the beehive of activity within.
2. It’s a lab for testing programs.
The four organizations and the children they serve will brew up solutions. They will include other organizations in experiments. Ideas born and proven at the lab will be spread to future YCL branches in the parish.
3. It’s for the young, by the young.
Students will make decisions about culture and space. They’ll practice civic engagement. They will learn to read and borrow books. They’ll earn certifications that help them land their first jobs after high school, and summer work for extra spending money. They’ll put on shows and share poems at open mic events.
Collaborators
Big Buddy has gathered a community of mentors who teach children and inspire them to make meaningful change. Mentors read to elementary school students, tutor children of all ages and guide kids through challenging times.
Front Yard Bikes is a community bike shop that also teaches children how to fix and maintain bikes, and to ride safely. We operate an urban garden from which we teach children how to cook the food they grow.
Humanities Amped creates performances of possibility. HA pairs young people and adults in school and after school to encourage belonging and interdependence.
As a creative literacy nonprofit Line4Line uses books with art to excite, empower and get kids interested in reading and learning. We operate in schools and other creative spaces.