Reference: Youth Center Proposal

Below is the text of the draft proposal for a new project we are working on with the youth council in the parish (see Resumen de Mayo entry above for more details).


Proposal: Franciscan Youth Center
Chimbote, Peru

I. Mission: To open a welcoming space to complement youth ministry efforts of Parroquia San Francisco en Chimbote, Peru, and allow for increase outreach to young people that live in surrounding neighborhoods.
II. Background
1. The city of Chimbote
Chimbote is a port city of about 400,000 inhabitants in the coastal desert of Peru, about seven hours by bus north of the capital of Lima. The fishing industry flourished here – at the price of substantial environmental pollution and disappearance of tourism – from the late 1950´s through the late 1980´s. The fishing industry remains a central economic activity, though due to overfishing the quantity of related jobs in this sector has shrunk considerably. Even in its 1970´s heyday in which Chimbote produced world-leading volumes of fish products for export, the vast majority of owners and beneficiaries of this wealth were either foreign or Lima-based, and little of the substantial income was invested in Chimbote itself in the form of infrastructure, etc. A general search for good work in recent decades has brought to Chimbote a steady stream of immigrants, largely from the Sierra, the mountainous inland region – a trend which continues to the present day. Especially with the current downturn in employment within the fishing industry and its smoke-belching processing plants, steady jobs are few and far between, poverty is widespread, and many turn to very creative means (legal and otherwise) in order to generate income, create a very large informal economic sector. Socially, the handicaps of corruption, crime, and drug and alcohol abuse stem from and contribute to climate of economic hardship and insecurity faced by many Chimbotanos.

2. St. Francis Parish
St. Francis of Assisi Parish is located in the sector of Chimbote called 21 de Abril, established in the late 1950´s. Administrated since the mid 1990´s by the Conventual Franciscan Congregation of priests and brothers, the parish includes two chapels in the outlying sectors of 2 de Mayo and Santo Domingo in addition to being the primary place of worship for the Catholic majority in the sectors of 21 de Abril A & B, San Isidro, 12 de Octubre, Magdalena Nueva, and San Francisco de Asís. Since total residents in the eight sectors number approximately 30,000, cautious estimate puts the number of young people (15-25 years old) at nearly 10,000 – of which only a small fraction are touched in any significant way by parish programs and services. As of February 2008 current active young leaders, mostly in their late teens and 20´s, came together to form JUMIFRA, Juventúd Misionera Franciscana – Franciscan Missionary Youth. JUMIFRA has served since then with about 15 active members to plan, guide, and motivate ministry to and with their peers within the parish, guided by Father Carlos Gómez, who has the charge of parish youth and children´s programs, and Todd Schmidt, an Incarnate Word Missionary in the parish since September 2007. The Incarnate Word Missionaries are participants in a lay missionary program of the same name that is sponsored by the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word, who have been in Chimbote providing health services (currently two medical clinics and the only hospice in Peru) since 1964. Currently participating in the parish, spread between two youth choirs, JUMIFRA, English classes, a charismatic prayer group, a recently-formed theater group and the current Confirmation preparation classes, are approximately 70 young people.

III. Objectives
1. Help the parish offer to young people a space that they can call their own, along the way encouraging and teaching the responsibility required to take care of and maintain it.
2. Support parish youth groups by offering a larger availability of gathering times and rooms for meetings, projects, workshops, activities, socializing, etc.
3. Offer opportunities, space, and guidance for the development of small business projects by groups or individual young people whom have the desire and determination to do so.
4. Increase our capacity as a parish and youth ministry of bringing to local young people educational and formational activities, including talks and seminars, skill training workshops, classes, retreats, etc.
5. Widen our efforts in the evangelization of our young people by means of creating a space that might generate in participating youth a greater identification with their parish and promoting fellowship among themselves as a community of faith, in such a way encouraging to grow in spiritually as people and as committed members of today´s church.
6. Create a space for safe, healthy fun and socialization.
7. Be a base within the youth community that provokes the and initiates service and social justice projects within the larger community.

IV. Budget and anticipated expenses
1. Monthly expenses
A. House rental: $250 (a lower price may be able to be negotiated)
B. Water and electricity: $35
C. Telephone and internet: $40
2. Kitchen needs
A. Stove
B. Gas (tank refilled periodically for about $10)
C. Plates, cups, pots, utensils, etc.
3. Furniture
A. Tables
B. Chairs
C. Stereo/CD Player
D. TV/ DVD player
E. Whiteboards
F. Second hand couches, etc.
4. Miscellaneous
A. School supplies
B. Art supplies
C. Cleaning supplies (detergent, brooms, mops, etc)
D. Games (table games, chess sets, etc)
E. Ping pong table
5. Computer and printer for ministry use by JUMIFRA (with 3-4 more computers, we could offer them to youth for completion of homework, for computer classes, etc)
6. Musical instruments (guitars, flutes, etc) that would stay in the house for classes and general use during gatherings, events, etc.

To cover the long-term monthly expenses we are researching grant possibilities because the parish will not be able to cover the cost, but for the first year and start-up expenses the Incarnate Word Missionaries are contact friends, family and parishes in the US to seek complementary monetary support in order to initiate the project. We view this first year also as a test period for the center, evaluating progress and success more formally at that juncture in addition to regular ongoing evaluation by JUMIFRA and the administrative committee (see item V below).

V. Administration
1. The Franciscan Youth Center will be a joint project of Parroquia San Francisco de Asís by means of the group JUMIFRA (Franciscan Missionary Youth, the youth council of the parish) and the Conventual Franciscan priests and brothers, the Incarnate Word Missionaries in Chimbote, and the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word. Each of these groups will select a representative to participate in the administrative committee for the project, which will have the duty of guiding and overseeing the Franciscan Youth Center. In addition to the groups already mentioned, each parish youth group (choirs, theater, English, charismatic prayer, confirmation, etc) will have on representative on the committee.

2. The committee will meet monthly to accomplish the following:
A. Share budget report for the previous month.
B. Report on activities and events at the youth center since the previous committee meeting.
C. Present plans, goals and suggestions for the upcoming month and farther into the future.
D. Evaluate progress toward goals stated in the annual plan, previously developed by the committee
E. As a product of each monthly meeting, a monthly report will be prepared and sent to individuals and organization who collaborate with the project.

3. Roles of groups represented on the administrative committee
A. Incarnate Word Missionaries – contact person for the youth center, will have the duty of managing the center´s budget and finances in addition to working with JUMIFRA to provide general oversight of daily programs and activities.
B. JUMIFRA – in charge of planning and organizing specific programs and events that are offered in the youth center and of being present as well as providing or arranging for responsible supervision in the center during hours in which it is open (see Section VIII, Rules).
C. The Conventual Franciscan priests and brothers, who have charge of the parish, will designate a representative from their community to serve on the administrative committee in addition to supporting JUMIFRA in their work in the center, providing guidance and spiritual direction as being a contact person for the Conventual Franciscan community.
D. Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word – seeing that the community of Incarnate Word Missionaries has fluctuating membership, the sisters will provide continuity of presence on the administrative committee as well as support the IWM´s in their ministry in the center.
E. Representatives of parish youth groups – will serve as communication links between their respective groups and the administrative committee of the youth center, bringing ideas and suggestions to committee meetings and communicating the committee´s decisions and general youth center news to their group´s members, thus facilitating collaboration of parish youth in communal parish youth projects and events.
4. In order to provide additional security, JUMIFRA members will sleep at the house on a rotating schedule.

VI. The house itself
1. Being directly across the alley from the parish, the house location brings many advantages in terms of maintaining a strong identification of the Franciscan Youth Center with the parish itself.
2. The house has three floors, the first two consisting of a large open room and 2-3 bedrooms that could be used for group meetings and classes. It is equipped with a kitchen, stove, and hot water heater. The third floor also includes several separate rooms, but is unfinished and would be good space for craft, carpentry, or other workshops. The entire rooftop is open as a patio/porch.

VII. Why is a parish youth center needed?
1. It would make the parish more accessible to young people, offering a more flexible and expanded schedule for holding programs with young people without inconveniencing the Conventual Franciscan Community in always asking for keys, wanting to stay later than the current limit of 10:00 pm, etc. Tentative weekday schedule would be to open the center in the mornings, 9 am – 1 pm, for academic programs for youth who study during afternoon shift at their schools. Then, to open the center from 4 pm to 11 pm in the evening as a gathering place, for classes and meetings, etc. Weekend schedule be the same, with the possibility of later hours at night for special events or gatherings.
2. Projects such as workshops and the library that we propose would occupy the current small number of available parish rooms, making them unavailable for use by other parish groups.
3. To generate a greater identification of young people with their parish community through having a space that is more their own, which sends the message that the parish indeed welcomes youth and invites young people to actively participate in parish and community life.
4. Offer the possibility of adapting and customizing spaces for specific uses and ends, thereby creating more opportunity for the development of skill training workshops and projects with youth that require specialized materials, avoiding the necessity of always brings and removing materials each day.
5. To make possible more opportunities for skill training and personal development for young people in our community.
6. In additional to and by means of the programs, fellowship, and fun that the youth center could offer, we can further various aspects of mission of the parish and of the larger church, evangelizing young people and forming Christian citizens that participate actively in society in order to help others and change our current unjust reality. The parish has the unreached potencial to be a base of positive influence and change for youth, and opening a youth center would be a step toward making this potential a reality.

VII. Examples of possible programs
1. Meeting space and resources for existing and new parish youth groups.
2. Spiritual retreats and workshops.
3. Formation and maintenance of a small library for youth.
4. Academic support and guidance by older youth and young adults to younger peers.
5. Informative talks and job skill training.
6. Art and drawing workshops
7. Music classes
8. Movie nights
9. Celebrations (i.e. New Years, independence day, monthly birthdays, etc)
10. Communication and cultural interchange between Chimbote and US youth.

VIII. Proposed Rules
1. For reasons of security and safety, sign-in system for entering and leaving the house will be instituted.
2. No drugs or alcoholic beverages of any kind will be allowed.
3. No violence.
4. Maintain an attitude of respect toward the people, house, materials.
5. No foul language.
6. Each group that utilizes a space within the youth center should leave it clean, and neat, materials stored away in their place in good condition.
7. Groups will have responsibilities to help take care of the house (cleaning, maintenance, etc).
8. There will always be at least three people (one for each floor) present in the center with supervisory responsibility whenever the center is open to the general youth community. JUMIFRA members themselves – or persons of maturity designated by JUMIFRA – will assume this role.
9. Rooms in the center will be opened only when they are going to be used.
10. In the case in which overnight retreats or events are held, men and women will sleep in separate rooms and will be properly supervised.
11. Individuals who don´t comply with the above rules may be restricted from entering the youth center.