Yorktown Teen Center is a 501(c)3 charity corporation established in August 2009. Yorktown Teen Center is open to middle and high school students that reside in Yorktown and surrounding communities. Its mission is to provide safe, positive, enriching, fun, supervised programs for teens. The center is located in room 102 at the Yorktown Community and Cultural Center, 1974 Commerce Street, Yorktown, New York.

The YTC is operated with support from volunteers, most who work full time. YTC NEEDS YOU TO KEEP IT GOING (Click HERE)!

Funding is by private donation used to cover the operating costs. YTC is not directly funded by the Town of Yorktown  We are grateful to the town for providing a space to keep our teens safe and healthy.

Over the years, hundreds of teens have benefited from programs operating as the Yorktown Teen Center. The YTC has been run at various times by the town, a national youth organization and through the participation of many local volunteers.

In the mid 1960’s students from Yorktown High School petitioned the Board of Education and Parks Department to provide a space for teens to meet as they complained that there was nothing to do.  They were given the use of a barn to have dances.  The barn was located where the Alternative High School now stands. Dances were also held in one of the tennis courts.

In 1977 the Lakeland School District and the Town of Yorktown opened a community center in the former Shrub Oak Elementary School.  “The Place” had arcade equipment, slot car racing and ping pong.

In 1997, a determined group of parents, teens and concerned citizens came before the Yorktown Town Board and presented a compelling case for a safe, supervised and friendly environment for Yorktown’s youth. Two unused, old locker rooms at the Yorktown Community and Cultural Center (YCCC) were bequeathed to the newly formed group and it was their job to “create” the Teen Center out of that abandoned, dank space…. and they did.

Volunteer adults supervised the teens three evenings per week until a national youth organization discovered the program and took over the “care and feeding” of the teens in 1998. A Teen Center Advisory Board was formed and was operational during the national group’s supervision.

In 2001, at the urging of some middle school parents, the group implemented child care for 6th & 7th graders while continuing to maintain the teen program. Both programs were alive and thriving, when in June 2009 financial difficulties made it impossible for the parent organization to continue supporting the Yorktown site.

The Yorktown Teen Center Now

To fill this new void in the community, the former Advisory Board reorganized as a steering committee in June 2009 and proceeded to incorporate, becoming the present Yorktown Teen Center, Inc. on August 18^th, 2009. YTC is a Not-for-Profit 501(c)3 charity allowing for donations to be tax deductible.

At the YCCC, a room was reassigned for the teens in half the space than before. The teens also have limited access to the YCCC gym and other rooms. In its first years, adult volunteers have provided supervision during the hours of operation. Teens have been offered a variety of programs throughout the year.

The new Yorktown Teen Center in its first year was described in the North County News as one of “the best and the brightest beacons for the future.”

Read the YTC Story written by Katherine Turner.