Napanee after-school youth program ‘Chill Zone’ shuts down

An afternoon school program for teenagers in Napanee has been shut down. The Chill Zone, a safe place for teenagers to gather is no longer operational after running out of money.

The program relied on donations from the community. Brittany Couto is a community development worker who’s been with the program for a number of years.

“We’ve run out of funding, unfortunately, we can’t continue to keep up with our operational cost and when the funding doesn’t correspond with the operational cost, unfortunately, this is the nature of the situation.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "We've run out of funding, unfortunately, we can't continue to keep up with our operational cost and when the funding doesn't correspond with the operational cost, unfortunately, this is the nature of the situation."

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The Chill Zone was located in a large meeting room in the Napanee Area Community Health Centre on Dundas Street. It was open Tuesday and Thursdays for kids between the ages of 14 and 18.

Couto says the majority of funding comes from donations and fundraising, and all who are involved can’t wait to reopen.

“Financially, it’s going to take us between $75,000 to $100,000 to run this program yearly.”

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The Chill Zone has served over 250 youth since it opened in 2013.