Chambersburg teen center aims to keep youth out of trouble, support them through hardships

CHAMBERSBURG – With teens in the community facing a variety of issues ranging from drug and alcohol problems to bullying, Don Houser is working on a way to help them cope with these difficult challenges.

The founder of Proverbs 31 and the 360 Transformation Center, organizations that help ex-offenders return to society, is undertaking his third major project: a teen center.

Bullying and violence are just a few of the problems today’s teens face, Houser said. According to the 2015 Pennsylvania Youth Survey, 23.3 percent of students in the county reported being threatened with “violent behavior” at school, which is about a percent and a half increase since 2011. Bullying is also a problem with 21.3 percent of Franklin County students indicating they experienced this in the past year, the survey shows, compared to about 17 percent in the state.

Drug overdose deaths in the county are also a concern. Houser cited a Public Opinion story which states these deaths have nearly doubled in the past few years, climbing from 24 in 2015 to 40 in 2016. In addition, drug overdose deaths among adolescents ages 15 to19 years old in the United States rose from 3.1 deaths per 100,000 adolescents between 2007 and 2014 to 3.7 in 2015, the Centers for Disease Control said.

This has created a “boiling pot going on right now with our youth,” according to Houser. He added if something is not done soon to help them release some of this hostility and anger, then “we’re going to be witnessing issues that a lot of the other cities, like the Florida shooting and stuff like that, (that) have taken place. We don’t want to see that happen.”

That’s where the new teen center comes in.

Its goal is to provide young people with different programs and resources to give them an outlet to be heard and meet some of their needs, Houser said. The area also has a lot of single parents who need help with their children, he added, so the center will give them a place to go and get the help and support they need.

“I believe that it’s better to be proactive than reactive,” he said.

The new facility will be tailor-made for the area’s youth, and include programming such as a culinary school, a boxing ring, a barber shop and weekend youth nights. In addition, other organizations like the YMCA and the House of Grace, which is a religious support group for women, will be involved.

But it will be more than just recreational programs. The center will have a clinical and treatment side to work with the county’s adjudicated youth, as well.

Counselors and mentors who have “been there, done that,” Houser said, will be available to help teens process some of the issues they’re dealing with at home and at school. The facility will also provide a drug and alcohol program, and a program to help teens who may have been traumatized get to the root of the problem.

“I think it’s not the entire solution, but it provides a solution,” he said.

Grief help is another component that will be offered for teens who have suffered a loss. This is especially important to Houser, because he lost his grandmother in college, the Public Opinion previously reported. He said that was his “pitfall,” because he “had really no guidance on how to deal with that loss.”

“It sent me in a downward spiral,” he added. “I was emotionally broken.”

Although the project is geared toward teens, Houser mentioned his 2-year-old daughter, Aulora, as his “motivation and an inspiration to make a difference for the kids.”

“With everything that’s been going on in society, I’m a little fearful with her going in to school and just growing up with the way that things are,” he said.

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The building, located at 800 Lincoln Way West, needs a lot of work to reach its planned opening in September, according to Houser. It will cost about $95,000 just to bring the facility up to code, and more money will be needed to renovate the interior.

In order to do this, the organization is kicking off a fundraising campaign called CPR starting April 1. During this time, members from the organization will go around giving presentations, in addition to handing out T-shirts and hats to residents in the area.

The fundraiser is meant to “breathe life back into (the) community,” according to Houser. The “C” stands for Christ, because He is a major part of bringing about change; the “P” stands for people, because it takes “people of impact and influence and everybody putting their hand to the plow to make change in the community,” he said; and the “R” stands for risk and reward.

Residents who want to help with this effort can contact Houser at 717-331-1249 or email him at donhouser72@gmail.com to get involved. For those wishing to make a donation, checks can be made out to 360 Transformation Center Inc. and mailed to P.O. Box 831, Chambersburg, Pa. 17201 or deposited into the center’s account at F&M Trust Bank.

“In order to breathe life back into our community, we’re going to need Christ, we’re going to need people, and it’s going to be risk and there’s going to be reward,” Houser said.

This story is part of a partnership between WITF and Public Opinion.