Illinois Parks & Recreation
Volume 29, Number 4. July/August 1998
SPECIAL FOCUS

The Best Teen Rec Programs


IPRA's Teen Committee shares insights and best bets for teen programming
INTRODUCTION BY LORENE MARCINEK

Each day in Illinois more than 180 youths wake up in correctional facilities. Many of these youths faced the toughest of choices: guns, gangs or teams. Unfortunately, the lack of positive recreational opportunities made guns and gangs more accessible. Consider these facts:

  • It costs between $90 to $150 per day to incarcerate a juvenile at one of the 17 facilities in the state of Illinois. In McHenry County alone, 180 students ages 16 and under were detained on the average of 3,109 days at a cost of $362,786.

  • During the past three years, the number of delinquency referral cases has increased 55 percent. On average, about 9.5 percent of youth are put in detention. There was an 80 percent increase in the number of juveniles put in corrections; 34 of these youths were age 17 and older, so they were put in jail.

  • Kids today are highly mobile and crime is to longer restricted to their immediate neighborhoods. Crime is everywhere.

  • The reasons for youth turning to gangs include boredom, antisocial behavior, recognition by fellow members, protection from rival gangs, fellowship or brotherhood not received from family and friends, and intimidation from gangs.

    The need for teen programming is evident from statistics like these. This age group needs a sense of junior adulthood as they are looking to identify with their peer group. At this age their values are tested daily.

    The benefits that recreation can provide can only improve their well-being and, as a result, your community. Through organized, supervised and positive recreational opportunities, teens will experience living, learning, leading a full and productive life. They will explore avenues for purpose, pleasure, health and well-being. Other benefits to teens include personal development, self-esteem and self-reliance, creativity and adaptability, problem solving and decision making.

    The Teen Committee of the Illinois Park and Recreation Association (IPRA) offers in this article several "BEST" ideas for teen programs that work.

    T.P.H.- "The Party's Here"

    Three years ago the Schaumburg Park District responded to the needs of the junior high community by developing a program specifically for 7th and 8th graders. During the school year, on the first Friday of each month, students pay $5 to enter the park district's Community Recreation Center (CRC), the site of the T.P.H. "The Party's Here," a name chosen by students.

    From 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. a wide variety of activities are available, including shooting hoops, dancing to a professional deejay, pool tables, pingpong tables and board games. A concession area serves soft drinks, popcorn and candy. For those who want to just kick back and relax, an aerobics studio doubles as an audio/visual room where movies or sporting events are shown on a big screen TV.

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