GORHAM

The GCLC was formed in 1998 after Gorham was accepted as a partner community as the Communities for Children initiative was expanded in its second year. A board of 8 adults and two youth began meeting monthly and adopted bylaws that established the GCLC as a not for profit corporation. The Council today is a 501 (C) 3 corporation and has four youth members on its board.

In the spring of 1998, the Search Institute’s Attitudes and Behaviors survey was administered to approximately 1000 of the district’s children, grades 6-12. The results of this survey are one of three assessments that have resulted in the initiatives now supported by the GCLC. Although the board works through several sub committees, the most visible and active of these is the "Kids Committee". With membership at more than a dozen high school students, this committee designed and administered surveys in the high school and middle school. Armed with the information gathered in the Search Institute survey, that youth in Gorham did not feel valued by adults, did not feel the presence of many good role models, and felt that there were few if any places for many youth to hang out, the Kids Committee asked their peers to let them know what activities and opportunities they would like to see created. The several hundred respondents indicated a strong desire for a coffee house/teen center and opportunities to mentor others.

In 1999 the GCLC added a full time resource, a C4C VISTA Volunteer. The VISTA has worked closely with the board and has become an extremely important adult resource to the Kids Committee, co-facilitating meetings with youth leaders.

Also in 1999 the GCLC board learned that the First Parish Church, located in the center of town, had a large unused space that it wanted to utilize for the town’s youth. The board, and specifically the Kid’s Committee, immediately began a process of collaboration with the church to undertake the renovation of the space for a coffee house/teen center. After months of planning and a tremendous amount of hard work by the Kid’s Committee and other volunteers the Coffee House opened in February of 2001.

Many area businesses donated materials and training was conducted for adult volunteers who now supervise weekly gatherings. Today, a committee of adults and youth oversees the operation and programming of the space. Attendees at regular Friday nights at the Coffee House number from half a dozen to 75. The importance of the space to youth was expressed by one mother upon picking up her son at closing one evening. She said, "Before this place was open, (he) never went out on the weekends. Now he looks forward to coming here to be with friends."

The GCLC has also worked to create mentoring and tutoring opportunities for students. Currently more than a dozen high school students make weekly visits to the Village Elementary School to meet with students. High school students are also tutoring students in collaboration with the Gorham Recreation Department’s after school programs.

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