Stories indexed with the term ‘teens’

In a lobby filled with well-dressed young men, proud parents and assorted siblings, Gene and Sue Salaniuk stood back together and took in the scene.

They watched as Michael Paliotta, one of two teenage hockey players who currently lives in their house, talked with his parents amid a cluster of family members – two brothers and a sister – who’d made the trip to Ann Arbor from Westport, Conn., just to watch him play.

Six-year-old Will Paliotta stuck close, quietly playing with the buttons on his big brother’s suit jacket.

“I think Michael misses his brothers and sister,” Sue said softly, leaning toward Gene. He nodded and said, “Look how Will won’t let go of him.”

Two months ago, these people were strangers. But for the Salaniuks, Michael is now one of “their” kids; Will and the rest of the Paliottas are one of “their” families.

The Salaniuks have been hosting hockey players from the USA Hockey National Team Development Program in their Ann Arbor home for 13 years. Every few years they’ll tell the program’s housing coordinators that this will be their last. Then another bunch of 16- and 17-year olds come in and, well, they haven’t said, “no” yet. Their hockey family just keeps growing. [Full Story]

In January 2008, the Washtenaw United Way announced plans to focus its funding on five areas: early childhood education and care, aging in place, food, shelter and access to health care. While they didn’t quibble with the importance of those goals, local nonprofits that work with older children were stunned that funding for K-12 kids, especially those who lived in poverty, hadn’t made the cut.

In an op/ed piece published in the April 2, 2008 Ann Arbor News, Joan Doughty, executive director of the Community Action Network, put it this way: “Nonprofit directors like myself who coordinate programs providing academic and life skills and social support to low-income and youth at risk ages 6 and up were astonished and devastated to find that this area was not represented as an established priority.”

The decision by Washtenaw United Way mobilized leaders of about 20 groups that work with school-aged children – the result is the Washtenaw Alliance for Children and Youth (WACY), a coalition that had its coming-out party at a community forum two weeks ago. [Full Story]

In the hallway outside the city council meeting room last month, a group of teenagers leaned into each other and grinned as multiple cameras flashed. People passing by paused to say “Congratulations!” The teens – former participants in the Ann Arbor Art Center’s Artmakers Teens summer outreach program – had just received a 2009 Golden Paintbrush Award from the Ann Arbor Public Art Commission for a mural they created last summer.

Standing and smiling with them was Sarah Winter, an Ann Arbor Public Schools art teacher and project coordinator for the teens who created the mural. Winter said she was happy about the award, and called working with the Artmakers a “truly amazing experience.”

However, it was also bittersweet, she said.

“There’s no funding for the program this summer,” Winter explained. “It was great for the teenagers in a lot of ways this past summer, and now it’s over. I’m very sad it’s not happening this year.” [Full Story]