Youth Services
About Youth Services
Cristo Rey provides a unique center where area children and youth congregate after school and throughout the summer when schools are not in session. Our Child Services program offers creative social and recreational activities that provide North Lansing children with access to a variety of services that develop interpersonal skills and positive outcomes in later life.
Children living in the North Lansing community receive conflicting messages about alcohol and other drug use as a social activity, have high rates of mobility, and experience economic instability which put them at risk for substance abuse, violence and delinquency, school drop out and teen pregnancy.
The area in which Cristo Rey Community Center is located is a "distressed" area, one with a number of "inner city" characteristics:
•The per capita income in this area is $4,655 less than the per capita income for the Lansing MA, while the median household income is $12,190 less.
•The percentage of all persons below the poverty line in the North Lansing community is more than twice that of the rest of Lansing. The difference in percentage of children under 18 years of age living in poverty is even greater (37% as compared to 14%).
•Data on levels of educational attainment are also indicative of a community in distress. The percentage of persons 25 years of age or older with less than a high school diploma is twice that of the Lansing MA (33% versus 16%).
The Child Services program provides activities for over 200 children ages 5 and up after-school from 4:00 to 7:00.
Our program includes:
•Drop-in Center - After-school and daily throughout the summer children play board games, sports, work on computers, draw, participate in arts and crafts, and take field trips.
•KIDS Kamp - The Department of Parks and Recreation enhances our services with a summer program at out site that includes structured activities of sports, games, arts and crafts.
•Computer Lab - offers low-income children access to computers.
•Tutoring - Social work students are recruited to help children with homework.
•Reading for fun- The bookmobile visits our site weekly.
