We are going to close this project as we enter 2017! It seems good to let go of this funding stream for Joel's Place as we enter the new year. The past 4 years we have kept the project open and raised over $20,000. Thank you for reading. Thank you for giving. Thank you for being part of a the good positive place that Joel's Place has been to Fairbanks youth and will continue to be in the future.
Please contact us at 907-452-2621 to chat! We have you on our mailing list! We are excited for all that 2017 will bring.
With Warm Regards,
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In order to meet the goals of our GG project we need to hire new staff at Joel's Place to engage the youth in positive adult relationships. While this project has been drawn out over several years this is still a need that we have. It is our hope to hire 22 year old Gary Galbreath! Erik calls him the best skateboarder in Fairbanks! He has been skating at Joel's Place since we opened our doors in 2004. Everytime the doors were open he was on his skateboard with his brothers. This summer he was invited to join Blue and Gold Board Shop's team (as close as we get to professional boarders in Alaska). He has been an active volunteer and just completed Sources of Strength Adult Advisor training. Our next goal is to help him become a Certified Skateboarding Instructor. Gary volunteers every weekend and we are so glad to have Joel's Place alumni who still believe in the mission of Joel's Place. Positive activities, mentors and positive friends are all sources of strength, as a donor you will also be a source of strength with your generosity.
Through Sources of Strength we are reaching out to Fairbanks youth in schools, in youth groups and even to home schooled teens in the next two years with this positive culture message #Iamstrong partnering with the Fairbanks Wellness Coalition. You can add your recurring donation to build resilience in Fairbanks youth who need our support.
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First and foremost, Thank You for your continued support for Joel's Place and the youth who for 17 years now have come to play! Housing the only indoor skate park in Alaska has brought us many visitors this summer, some from as far away as Boston! As summer comes quickly to an end and the kids are back in school August 17th, we are extending our hours! We will be open before and after school for students ages 5-12 and Friday, Saturday and Sunday for youth ages 12 and older.
One of the highlights of our summer is Lunch and Lessons! Young skateboarders arrive about 12:30 for lunch followed by lessons by our Skate Park manager! This beginning instruction gives 5-12 year olds confidence and skills to skate our indoor park. It's the busiest time of our day. Yesterday at the Tanana Valley State Fair booth we were encouraged by many who thanked us for expanding our programs for the benefit of Fairbanks youth.
We have an announcement to make! The beginning of July we were awarded a suicide prevention grant from the Fairbanks Wellness Coalition to partner with them to bring a national best practice program "Sources of Strength" to Fairbanks. Two of our staff will become trainers over the next two years. This award came to us because of our history providing strength based youth programs! In our 17 year history working with young people we have not had a suicide, while every one of our teens has had a suicide loss of a friend or family member.
Every gift to Joel's Place strengthens our ability to give creative, adventurous and adrenalin seeking youth a good, positive outlet for their energy. That mission statement continues to speak of our heart to be a strength to the young people we serve. Thanks for partnering with us!
Directors
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We want to thank you for your continued support of Joel’s Place during our time of transition. Since reopening on January 29th we have successfully operated both Raw Joy School Age Program and Joel’s Place with volunteers. This has been a value of over $50,000 in program costs.
With your support we have added Mike as the Executive Director with a minister’s housing allowance and contracted with former board member, Kay Patersson’s book keeping company, adding her as our Chief Financial Officer. As of May 2nd we will have our first two program employees and add two more May 16th. We have also enlisted three teens as summer interns.
Plans for Raw Joy are coming together and we are in the thick of meeting licensing requirements. We expect to be fully licensed by fall. This summer we are offering a very flexible program with operating hours of 7am-7pm Monday through Friday for 45 children each day, ages 5-12. We will be an open site with the Summer Food Service Program serving free breakfast and lunch. Our favorite community collaboration, Bone Builder’s Backpacks, will keep us connected with children all over the city who would usually get free lunch at school, filling a backpack with food each of the 12 weeks of summer break.
One of our dad's recently donated 7 refurbished bicycles to our program and Fairbanks Youth Sports and MAC transit donated three more along with 12 new loaner skateboards so that no one gets left out.
Joel’s Place will remain steady on Friday nights throughout the summer with Skate Church, dinner at 7pm, worship at 8pm followed by an intense time of shredding the park! On Saturday nights we have a couple of concerts planned. Please connect with us on Facebook or Instagram @ JP907.
Thank you for believing in our mission to provide adventurous, creative and adrenalin seeking youth a good, positive outlet for their energy.
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The mission of Joel’s Place Skate Park and Youth Center, the only facility of its kind in Fairbanks, Alaska, is to give creative, adventurous, adrenalin seeking youth a good, positive outlet for their energy. Joel's Place offers youth a safe place to call their own, with a concert venue, gaming room, an indoor/outdoor skate park, media lab, retail skate shop, a community garden, outdoor volleyball and basketball courts, snowboard park, and a café, where volunteers and food donations, allow us to feed hungry young people. We serve over 6,500 free meals each year. Youth can participate in action sports, tutoring, music and art lessons, life and job skills training. It is a place where young people know that they will be safe and respected while having an incredible amount of fun and developing the tools that they need to thrive in the world.
On December 19, 2015 Joel’s Place announced that we were closing our doors indefinitely due to financial issues. After an outpouring of community support and donations, we were able to reopen our doors on January 29, 2016 and were thrilled to end 2015 with all the bills paid.
We have now reopened with volunteers and are dealing with cash flow and unsustainable staffing issues. We have added a program that will help make up any deficits and have developed a budget based on actual income patterns. We have new hours of operation and have slightly increased our session cost for the skate park giving parents an opportunity to partner with us.
Our plan is to continue feeding young people ages 10-20 over the weekend. The facility will be available to rent for parties and meetings on a limited basis bringing in additional income.
The new program we have added is called RAW Joy School Age program (the name combines Randy Smith Middle School, Anne Wein and Joy Elementary Schools that are in our neighborhood). This program will reach 5-12 year old students and foster emotional resilience, academic excellence, physical stamina and give stability to children while parents or caregivers work. It extends the target age of Joel’s Place (10-20) to include 5-9 year olds for the morning and afternoon program and will allow younger children to have access to our indoor skate spot.
Presently, the staff is working on licensing as a child care facility to formalize our program allowing parents access to Child Care Assistance funds. In 2015, Joel’s Place served 130 students in this demographic. This program will be more structured meeting a need in our neighborhood for before and after school activities. Our goal is to serve students 7am- 7pm depending on parent’s needs.
Thank you for your support in giving creative, adventurous and adrenalin seeking Alaskan young people a good, positive outlet for their energy!
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