Community Promise

ClosetPlace is proud to support organizations that strengthen our community by raising awareness of their programs and by sponsoring fund raising events throughout the year. We invite you to join us by learning more about these outstanding organizations that contribute so much to our communities. We challenge you to get involved.

Appalachian mountain Teen Project

This past year I met Alice, a young woman with a powerful story.

Like so many troubled teens she was at odds with teachers and parents, had learning problems, and was on the path to becoming a high school dropout. A kid without much to look forward to in life but a downward slide into unskilled and uninteresting jobs, or worse. A very typical story for so many at risk teens.

Except that Alice had two things working in her favor: a powerful inner strength and the support of an organization called the Appalachian Mountain Teen Project.This past fall at age 30, after years of hard work and determination, a dream will come true for this remarkable young woman: Alice begins her new job as a full time certified school teacher. Fifteen years or so after many of her teachers had written her off as a failed student. I have no doubt that her journey will provide a valuable perspective to her work with her young students.

About Appalachian Mountain Teen Project

Over the past 25 years, the Appalachian Mountain Teen Project has formed long-term mentoring relationships with more than 550 local teens and conducted thousands of outdoor adventure and community service days with teen groups from across the Lakes Region.
   
AMTP seeks to restore to the lives of young people what has been taken away from them through tragic life circumstances.  AMTP focuses on strengths rather than deficits and creates an atmosphere of acceptance for all youth, allowing them to develop safe, stable relationships and viable, hopeful visions of the future.
 
Adam, a recent high school graduate who participated in a multi-day AMTP canoe trip w hen as a younger teen, recently reflected on what that experience has meant for him since:
 
We did the 96 miles through Maine - ten days out there with a group of kids. It teaches you a lot about working with a bunch of people... And we had to become a team to get through those ten days but when I returned a lot of the skills that I learned out there, I kept them and applied them. It's helped me in job interviews; it's helped me in relationships and in everyday life.
 
It has helped my home life a lot, dealing with family members in times of emergency.  It has also helped with many workplace environments, working with new people, or you get a new boss, procedures change, but you adapt - you work with other people and you make the job a lot easier for other people as well as yourself. Ultimately, it's being a more versatile person - jumping into any situation and helping somebody right there.

  AMTP is committed to using a multi-level approach to respond to individual, family, peer, school and community issues and concerns.  Over time, the program has expanded to include parenting courses, classroom-based diversity programs, child psychiatry consultations with educators and physicians, and most recently, efforts to improve access to and success in post-secondary education among students from families with low income.  Since 1984, the AMTP this unique, grassroots, community-based non-profit has served over 7,000 people in 8 school districts and 19 communities.  For more info, please visit www.teenprojectnh.com.