The HUB Youth Central

Mission

The HUB Youth Central on Whidbey Island Mission Statement
• To engage youth by providing innovative programs, nutritious meals, and a safe place to socialize
• To honor youth by offering support, acceptance, and a sense of purpose
• To build coalitions which advocate for youth, family, and community
• To prepare youth for independent life by developing leadership and life skills

Description

Who We Are and What We Do: The HUB Youth Central located on Whidbey Island in Langley, Washington is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit youth agency offering a free drop-in center each weekday afternoon for middle and high school students between the ages of 12 and 18. We have operated in the Langley area since 1989, evolving into our current form of after school food, care, activities, and resources for local youth. We provide healthy meals and activities for teens, mentoring, and social support for rural youth. Serving 22 -65 students daily, we find the numbers of youth needing our services has increased tremendously the past few years, In 2019, we served over 5,000 meals to our teens, who come from all areas of Whidbey Island. In 2020, we served over 10,000 meals, including our home delivery meal service during the Covid crisis.

Who We Serve: While many of our HUB youth come from supportive homes, a surprising number of South Whidbey Island teens have invisible needs: they face tremendous poverty, neglect, loneliness, lack of adult supervision, and on-going food insecurity in their homes. Along with this, we service a sizable group of teens who struggle with domestic instability and gender identity. We have youth who live in relative care, primarily with grandparents on fixed incomes, or custodial care due to parental incarceration, drug abuse and addiction, leading to problems that increase at-risk behavior for our kids, a situation we work to eliminate with timely intervention and strategic programs. The needs of these teens are completely under served within our island community except at The HUB.