Teen Reach

NYAP’s Teen Reach program is a fun, engaging after-school program that offers comprehensive youth development to high-risk youth ages 6-17 in the Peoria, Sycamore & DeKalb areas. This program strives to provide a safe and welcoming environment for teenagers to develop their academic, social, physical, and mental capabilities. Youth enjoy positive, enriching experiences all week long throughout each academic semester. 

Services offered:

  • Structured time to do homework, receive tutoring, and engage in enrichment that encourages creativity. 

  • Life skills education which encompasses training and education to promote the development of healthy lifestyles, and encourages abstinence from risk-taking behaviors such as alcohol or substance abuse, criminal activity, violence, and sexual activity. 

  • Parental engagement that provides parents and caregivers the opportunity to to participate in events that strengthen parent-child bonds and community involvement. 

  • Recreation, sports, and cultural  activities that allow youth to try new skills and develop new interests, build friendships, and have  developmentally relevant experiences. 

  • Adult mentors for participants to develop and maintain positive, sustained relationships with adults. 

  • Service-learning  activities that connect classroom lessons with meaningful service to the community.

How to sign up:

Please fill out the registration form using the link below for your child's participation. For questions, reach out to the following NYAP staff:

Marcola Owens - mowens@nyap.org (Peoria)
Velvet Mason - vmason@nyap.org (Sycamore)

Volunteer with us:

We have both one-time and regular volunteer opportunities during our weekday hours of operation, from 2:30 pm to 6:00pm, as mentors, tutors, life skill coaches and speakers.  We wish to welcome you and thank you for your desire to volunteer and serve the youth of our community. We look forward to working with you to provide students the opportunity to enrich their lives through maintaining a safe and engaging environment. Teen REACH is often the turning point in our students' lives and can be a very rewarding place to volunteer.