The Youth Empowerment Strategies YES!Technology Mentoring Program  in Shelton, Washington

YES Community Technology Center is Open

 
 A SOCK sponsored program,The YES!  (Youth Empowerment Strategies) Community Technology Center
is up and running, available to Mason County youth 12 years and older  adults, families, service agencies and businesses providing community access to computers for education,  home work clubs,GED preparation,  testing, job search, job training, resume building, workshops and more. Younger children can attend if accompanied by an adult or if prior arrangements are made.

The Emancipation Station
a Conversation Cafe

 
  A self-service cafe has opened adjacent to the YES!Community Technology Center. 
 A donation based, relaxed cafe setting with board games, coffee, tea & sandwich fixings, the conversation cafe is open to YES! clientele.
  Meet with friends, mentors and tutors, relax before or after a computing session or just get out of the weather. Come on by!

The YES Community
Technology Center

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YES Community Technology Center
Recently upgraded through a state grant, our Technology Center is open to the public, youth and their families, private businesses and other organizations from Monday through Thursday, 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. With 20 computer workstations, we offer free access to the Internet, instruction in basic computer use, job search skills, resume writing, GED preparedness and online education. Since November, 2008, the Technology Center has served more than 460 individuals, many who have used the computers and Internet to find housing, work, educational resources, or more effectively market their small businesses or organization.

Young people currently comprise 78% of the Technology Center users and 42% of the time spent there was related to either work or school.

 The YES Digital Media Studio

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                is a multi track recording studio and video editing facility that teaches audio engineering and video production skills to young people. The video production team is currently working on two films in collaboration with the Bicycle Re-cycle project and Mason Transit. The first is a short film about riding the bus with a bicycle and describing the proper use of the bike rack on the front of the bus. The second is a bicycle safety film stressing the use of helmets and traffic safety rules. The Media Studio is another social entrepreneur opportunity to teach important skills to the youth and offer services to the general public for a fee. Many aspects of the ongoing YES Programs have also been filmed by youth participating in the YES Digital Media Studio. The videos are shot, edited, and produced by youth, under supervision of a professional media producer. The videos are periodically aired on Hood Canal Communications’ Channel 46.

This not only lets the kids produce and star their own videos, but invites our community to see our youth in a different light.

The multi track recording studio is currently involved in a project producing music CDs of local bands. These CDs can then be distributed to promote our local talent and the YES Digital Media Studio. Future recording projects may include  radio journalism and  gathering oral histories from local community members
 We plan to turn this into a for-profit operation, managed and operated by youth as well.

Our Hours


Monday through Thursday
10am to 4pm

Take a Bus!

We are located downtown
in the old Armory
at the Transit Center
601 Franklin St  Shelton, WA 98584.
across the street from the  Safeway store
Hope to hear from you soon!

The
“YES Re-cycle” Bike Shop

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              The Bike shop is a Youth Entrepreneurship  program started this summer, in conjunction with ESD 113 and Mason County Youth Programs. This start-up bike shop took in a number of used and broken bikes, furnished by the Bicycle Alliance of Washington, and employed youth, under supervision, to repair, rebuild, and refurbish them. The working bikes were then given away.
In the future, we plan to turn this into a for-profit operation, managed and operated by youth. It would provide hands-on skills in not just bike repair, but also in what it takes to operate a small business.

Cultivating Connections

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           The Cultivating Connections Project utilizes a greenhouse at Fir Lane Health & Rehabilitation Center to teach basic greenhouse cultivation skills to youth, who grow plant starts from cuttings, and then distribute these to residents of the convalescence center.

Join us!

 If you would like to sign up for time in our computer center as a user, mentor or tutor please contact us at info@yestechmentoring.org
or 360-432-0815 ( SOCK & YES!)