'Safe Haven': Sandwich Teen Action Group helps to keep kids off the street for 26 years
'We played a part in their lives where they’re thankful...and they say they’re thankful'
On the outside, the Sandwich Teen Action Group (STAG) building looks like a classic Windsor elementary school. But inside the hallways and former classrooms of St. Edward school are covered in bright artwork made by the kids of STAG. The chalkboards and desks are long gone.
The centre offers a "safe haven" for teens aged 13-19 in the community of Sandwich Towne, and has been a staple in that community since 1991.
"It's semi structured and what I mean by that is they're in school all day so they don't want to come to a program where it's regimented," said John Elliott, executive director of STAG and Ward 2 city councillor.
STAG offers "concept rooms," including a computer lab for homework, a gymnasium, a pool table ping-pong room, a movie room, and an all-girls room, said Elliott.
"There's some supervision, but they're teenagers so I always tell them 'it's not the babysitter's club," he said. "They know how they're expected to behave."
Elliot has been with STAG since 1993 and said the program began when two Sandwich-area police officers decided something needed to be done about the teen pregnancies and hooliganism in the area.
"It provides an alternative to the streets," said Elliott.
A Safe Haven
Coordinators and volunteers develop monthly activity plans for the kids and also lend moral support for those who might need it.
"It provides that outlet where the kids can come here and it's safe," said Elliott. "For me that's the biggie - making sure they're safe, providing good role models, help them get direction in their lives if that's what's needed and a good support system for the kids."
Around 400 kids walk through STAG's doors every month, and Elliott has worked very hard to ensure funding and community support keep the program alive.
He said United Way makes up for 49 per cent of STAG's budget and the rest comes from community collaborations and renting out spaces in the large building to compatible tenants.
"Now it's becoming more of a community centre because some of the tenants that we have are community association groups," said Elliott, adding that a Bangladesh group and an Arabic teen girls group have most recently moved in.
"They basically pay for the utilities let's say, but it provides a community central point."
The Bloomfield House
One of those groups is the Bloomfield House, a community collective which occupies a large room in STAG full of musical equipment, art, and supplies.
Its founder, Tea Jai Travis, grew up participating in the STAG program but saw that there was a lack of community initiatives for younger kids, families and the elderly.
"Our goal is we want to eventually become a fully-functional free school of creative arts," he said.
Travis describes the cooperative as a "grassroots community outreach initiative led by residents," and the format is less structured. People come together to do neighbourhood cleanups, choir practices, guitar lessons, meals, or host events.
"It's really a family effort. We set a table like a family we participate as family, and when we leave we always come back with the same idea of family community," he said.
The Bloomfield House doesn't receive any 'core funding' and primarily relies on fundraisers to stay open.
"The Bloomfield House started in 2013 in response to the closure of the College Avenue Community Centre," said Travis. "I thought, well, what if we developed a community centre that was built by the people for the people to meet the peoples' needs, and Bloomfield House happened."
West End Vacancy
The former College Avenue Community Centre sits vacant in Sandwich, with a large trailer across the street occupied by the Sandwich Community Health Centre. Those trailers were supposed to be the temporary location for thr health unit, but delays to renovate the old building have held back the move.
"The funding is in stages but I hear a rumour they're supposed to begin, the money was approved," said Elliott, who has advocated for Ontario's health ministry to approve the approximately $2-million in funding to begin renovations.
Elliott said the city and province negotiated the location about four years ago, and he hopes that work will begin this fall.
In the meantime, Elliott is glad STAG could be a place of support for kids in the Sandwich community.
"We played a part in their lives where they're thankful, and they always come back and they say they're thankful. So I know the program is working"
