“We want to show them the best of the best!” This is a statement from Cherelle Cowan, our Community Director at DAYFC, about what she wants the new City Life Youth Center to be for those who enter the building. In July or August this year, DAYFC hopes the doors of the City Life Youth Center will fling wide open to let all types of kids have a place they can call “home away from home,” or even better—a place that offers far more! It is in the North Aurora County of Denver and is a place where kids in the 11 to 19 age range are welcome to use the place to study, receive tutoring, eat food, play games, and simply grow in a community together.
Studies show that the violent crimes in North Aurora—such as murder, aggravated assault, and robbery—have risen this past year above every other year before, so the need for safety among youth in that region is urgent. Cherelle, as well as Isaiah Phillips-Thomas, another Community Coordinator for DAYFC, both grew up in that area, and both can vouch for the need of a building such as this—to take kids off the street where they might experience or be involved in violent crimes. It is surely a “God thing” that DAYFC is going to lay the foundation and see what God does in reaching the area around it, as well as all throughout Denver.
After quite a few places ended up not being suitable for their mission, eventually a realtor found this location, and it happens to be in the exact zip code of the area they want to reach. Another blessing is that they are right down the road from a charter school for high school students, most of whom are teen parents, while also offering teaching for their kids who are aged 0 to 5. This allows parents and kids to just walk down the road after school and go into a place to relax, unwind and restore all that has gone on that day.
Ultimately, DAYFC wants this to be a place where youth can feel safe, comfortable, loved, and cared for—no matter what their religion, background, race, or even, popularity in school is. And it’s not just the current location DAYFC feels like reaching—Isaiah is striving to connect with locations all within a 20-mile radius, but of course anyone from anywhere is always more than welcome!
The staff long to raise up leaders among the youth to reach those younger than them, and for that to be repetitive as time goes on, so that this place becomes a “watering ground,” as Charlie Straughter, also a DAYFC Community Coordinator, states. Altogether this is to be a place that will bring up a new generation that sees God moving in their lives and where they can LIVE out their faith.
By: Christie Smith | Communication and Media Specialist