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Community Corner

The Glen Cove Youth Bureau is Keeping Busy

A talent show and educational programs are on the department's list of activities.

The Glen Cove Youth Bureau, which was established as a department in the city in 1980, maintains a calendar that is continuously occupied, either with general functions such as after-school programs and workshops, or special events that take place once or twice annually.

Arlene O'Dell, the bureau's executive director for the past four years, said the department's mission is to "provide a safe and welcoming environment so that all youth, all families, and the entire community achieve their potential."

And the department is doing just that.

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On March 25, students enrolled in its Community Action Using Student Empowerment, or C.A.U.S.E., program, will host a talent show at Glen Cove High School. The show will include 10 acts, mostly musical, that will be judged by seven teachers and C.A.U.S.E. alumni. The bureau and the school, with the help of advisors Sandra Potter and Sue Poulos, collaborate to administer the program. 

The students, however, are in charge of the curriculum. Throughout the entire school year, seniors attend a class similar to economics, where they study and discuss community service and town specific civic engagement as well as plan activities to put the content of their discussions into practice.

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Every year, the class also chooses two charities and helps those charities raise money. This year, the students selected Ronald McDonald House and The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, but it is also participating in Hope For Haiti, which is also school-wide effort.

Potter anticipates that C.A.U.S.E. will raise $2,000 through ticket sales, which will be divided between Hope For Haiti and the Ronald McDonald House in New Hyde Park. Two of C.A.U.S.E.'s alumni classes already have plaques at the house in recognition of their work. 

On April 16, bureau officials said, The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society is scheduled to visit the class to collect the proceeds from their Pennies For Patients drive, for which they have set their goal at $1,400.

The youth bureau also holds extra-curricular courses on a daily basis, which are collectively titled, Glen Cove After 3, at its office on Forest Avenue. Approximately 275 students, ranging from elementary to high school, attend these courses in age specific groups. The students are also presented with lessons that adhere to appointed themes. 

The classes are headed by Spiro Tsirkas and is financed by the 21st Century Community Learning Center Grant, a federal government grant allotted through the No Child Left Behind Act and appropriated by the New York State Department of Education. The money is also used to fund Downtown Ambassadors, an initiative that provides teenagers with payments for providing assistance in areas of the city's economy, such as independent businesses, farmers' markets and festivals.

Additionally, the bureau runs summer recreation, holiday fundraisers, youth volunteer and employment operations, and multiple mentoring programs, including Kids on the Block, which is a troupe of students trained as puppeteers who perform instructive skits at schools in the area.

It is difficult to keep up with all the activities that go on. However, one could visit the bureau's Youth Center on Glen St., where students go to for after school recreation.  

For more information about the bureau, go to glencove-li.com. 

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