Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Youth Services topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Vendors at Woodland Hills Impact Center outline youth programs, summer reach and partnerships
Summary
Student STEM ambassadors, Amache Pittsburgh and a local child-care provider described programming and summer enrollment at the Woodland Hills Impact Center, including STEM activities, mentoring for youth affected by incarceration, and a summer enrichment program funded in part by the Early Learning Resource Center.
Vendors and partners at the Woodland Hills Impact Center presented program updates to the Woodland Hills School District board on Sept. 10, describing youth mentoring, STEM activities and a summer enrichment program that served more than 100 families.
Carnegie Mellon University-affiliated student ambassadors described in-person STEM programming at the center. “Before I started here, I started as a kid in the neighborhood who just wanted to go to the Woodland Hills Impact Center,” said Shavona Crawford, a student ambassador who identified herself as a sophomore at Woodland Hills High School. She told the board the hiring process for ambassadors was straightforward and that working at the center feels like “a family.”
Lorraine Mendoza, a senior and student leader, said serving as a CMU STEM ambassador changed her perspective on mentoring younger students and that she also mentors in VEX robotics. “My experience at the Woodland Hills Impact Center has been really great,” Mendoza said.
Representatives from Amache Pittsburgh, a nonprofit focused on youth impacted by parental or familial incarceration, summarized a new mobile outreach unit called “Here for You,” quarterly programs such as Heart and Healing (a two-day journaling and art program), and plans to expand school-based mentoring. Amache staff said they provide one-on-one mentoring, family engagement activities and a youth leadership program called Amache Ambassadors.
Dr. Dominique Thornhill, owner of Each 1 Teach 1 child care and learning center, described operating an after-school program at the center since February 2024 and a summer enrichment program in 2025 that served about 100 families. Thornhill said the summer program was free to participating families through Early Learning Resource Center (ELRC) funding; for families who did not complete ELRC paperwork, the provider worked with another organization, CoTrac, to pay for seven students.
Thornhill told the board the center provided snack and homework help and that the program relied on a mix of staff — 13 on-site in the summer and three during the last full school year — to support extracurricular activities and transportation provided by Woodland Hills School buses.
Board members thanked the vendors and student ambassadors and encouraged continued collaboration. District staff said the center is hosting a range of activities — STEM, gardening, podcasting, field trips and cultural programming — and that they plan to expand outreach to parents, seniors and adults in the community.
Board members asked vendors to provide contact information for follow-up and to coordinate with the district on future programming needs.
