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Summary
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Latin American Youth Center
http://www.layc-dc.org
1419 Columbia Rd, NW
Washington, DC 20009
202-319-2225
Founded in 1974
Executive Director: Lori Kaplan
Board: Noel Bravo, chair
Staff: 85 full-time 15 part-time
2005 Budget: $9.3 million
Mission and History
The Latin American Youth Center (LAYC) was founded in 1974 to serve
the needs of Caribbean, and later, Latin American youth who had
recently arrived in Washington, DC. Its mission is “to support
youth and families in their determination to live, work, and study
with dignity, hope and joy.” As the demographics of the Adams
Morgan, Columbia Heights, and surrounding neighborhoods changed,
LAYC programs grew to include Latino, African and African-American, and Asian teens and young adults. Today the organization
provides a wide range of educational, social, and job-related programs
targeting youth between the ages of 12 and 21. Within its multilingual
and multicultural environment, LAYC strives to counteract the effects
of poverty and racism. Their programs help youth develop critical
thinking and leadership skills, support educational success, and,
through the visual and performing arts, address cultural differences
and difficult social issues.
Services
LAYC provides academic assistance, employment and wraparound services
for low-income and at-risk youth, serving approximately 1,000 youth
on an ongoing basis and thousands more through a variety of outreach
programs. The programs fall into three major categories:
- Educational Enhancement
LAYC’s complement of educational programs are designed to
prevent in-school youth from dropping out by promoting academic
achievement through tutoring, Saturday academies, college prep,
and arts and recreational activities, including summer sports
leagues. The center’s Upward Bound program provides educational
enhancement and college preparation to 50 9th-12th graders and
their parents. Next Step Charter School offers GED and ESL classes
to 50 teen parents and other youth ages 13-21.
- Work Skills
The center offers several programs to introduce students to career
fields and to provide out-of-school youth with soft and hard skills
job training, GED preparation, and case management. For example,
each year, the Columbia Heights Youthbuild program provides 45
youth with construction jobs and leadership training. The Ben
& Jerry’s Partnershop at Eastern Market trains and employs
30 teens and young adults. A second store, slated to open late
in 2003 on Connecticut Avenue, will employ 30 youth.
- Social Services
These programs assist in-school and out-of-school youth engaged
in high-risk behaviors through prevention, diversion, and intervention
services including individual and group counseling, drug treatment,
housing, foster care, and family support programs. One such service,
the Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment Program, reaches
over 1,000 youth with street outreach, school-based workshops,
and counseling.
Charter Schools
The Next Step/El Próximo Paso Public Charter School was founded in 1996 as a learning environment for youth, many of them immigrants, who have dropped out of school or have never been enrolled in school in the U.S.
The Latin American Montesorri Bilingual (LAMB) Public Charter School was founded in 2003 as a self-directed learning environment for youth ages 3-12, where students are learning a second language, either English or Spanish, in a multicultural environment.
The YouthBuild Public Charter School, which combines the proven YouthBuild employment skills program with a GED curriculum, opened in the fall of 2005.
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