Recharge Teen Center opened in downtown Monmouth this week.
The renovated space at 213 S. Main St., is open from 3 to 6 p.m. weekdays for youth entering 8th grade through age 18 from all area communities.
“Most communities can really use a community center for teens, a safe space for them to go, to learn about different things, have a place where there’s no judgment, that they can be empowered,” said Amy Gugliotta, coordinator of Recharge Teen Center.
The center is a project of Eagle View Community Health System, a non-profit healthcare provider that serves uninsured, low-income, and medically underserved populations in neighboring Henderson County and in southeast Iowa.
Eagle View participates in the federal 340B program, which makes prescription drug costs and healthcare more affordable in vulnerable communities.
With the savings healthcare providers glean from the program, they can implement other services to address community issues.
Eagle View settled on the idea of a teen center.
“Thinking, we could create a space where kids could go trying to kind of stop them before they might make choices that weren’t in their best interests, or get them information or help, set them up resources,” Gugliotta said.
Opening the teen center involved much collaboration from community partners.
For instance, Buchanan Center for the Arts and Dick Blick helped with art supplies.
Other partners from Monmouth College to Smithfield Foods have donated time, expertise, supplies, and funds to offer a wide array of programming and services.
“It just keeps building every day. It’s like we’re creating additional partnerships to just bring everything that this community has already there, and networking kids into them,” Gugliotta said.
Recharge has a fully stocked food and hygiene pantry, a washer and dryer, a full kitchen for cooking classes, a gaming room, and a library of 400 donated young adult books.
Registration is required to participate and more information is online.
Gugliotta said Recharge will be open during the summer months as well.
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