The Alive Center in Naperville has offered a free after-school teen space since 2015, and supporters say it provides a major boost to mental health by helping junior high and high school students find a place to belong.
But less than 1% of communities in the state have this type of teen center available, Alive’s Founder and CEO Kandice Henning found in her research.
Two new models to help more teens
With nearly a decade of success in Naperville, Henning now has created two new models that will help the program she’s built expand more quickly and easily to other areas.
One model offers a certification, which Henning said includes training, consulting, and resources to help organizations that already serve teens follow the “Teen-Led, Teen-Driven” method created and trademarked by Alive. The other is franchising. Henning said much of her focus is on building these methods, so the Alive Center system can help more teens feel what people need the most: connection.
“It’s when you feel alone that you really struggle,” Henning said. “But when you connect with others and you feel that you are valued and seen, and that you are enough — that right there is enough to really help move the needle with positive mental health.”
Teen-Led, Teen-Driven Certification
Alive Center CEO and Founder Kandice Henning, bottom right, has worked with leaders of the B.R. Ryall YMCA in Glen Ellyn to get their facility started as an Alive Teen-Led, Teen-Driven Certified teen center.
The certification model is the result of two years of collaboration between the B. R. Ryall YMCA in Glen Ellyn and the Alive Center. The Ryall YMCA is in the early months of operating — in a newly renovated space — as an Alive-certified teen center, CEO Rob Wilkinson said.
A community survey in the Glen Ellyn area after the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic identified “a true teen mental health issue,” Wilkinson said. Leaders of the DuPage Foundation connected Wilkinson’s team with the Alive Center because of its experience providing “protective factors” for teen mental health. Henning said these include things like a close connection with at least one adult, healthy recreation, and avoidance of drugs and alcohol.
“We give kids a place to make friends, to belong, to be seen, to be included — to figure out who they are,” Henning said.
What’s special about the Alive Center, she said, is it’s guided by a teen advisory board. The center at 500 W. Fifth Ave. in Naperville, as well as other Alive facilities in Aurora and Hanover Park, allow teens to plan and offer activities for their younger peers, including mentoring, tutoring, arts, even podcasting — basically anything they can dream up.
“The model they’ve created of having truly a teen-led initiative, we were very impressed with,” Wilkinson said. “And we now have 22 area high school kids on our teen advisory board, and they just started to offer programs for middle school students.”
Helping teens connect and lead
Wilkinson and Alive Center leaders purposely recruited students in need of positive outlets to join the advisory board. This meant they invited not those looking to pad their resumes, but “the teens who are falling through the cracks, who aren’t in sports or clubs, but are needing an opportunity to connect and lead,” he said.
A $250,000 grant from the DuPage Community Transformation Partnership, a collaboration between DuPage County and the DuPage Foundation, provided initial funding for the certification work between the Ryall YMCA and the Alive Center.
Early into its time as a Teen-Led, Teen-Driven certified center, Wilkinson said he’s optimistic the framework will improve teen mental health. He said 100 teens came to the new center for more than 300 drop-in visits during its first month.
“We’re very excited about the impact that we’re going to be able to have on teens in our area,” he said.
Franchises in the future
The other model Henning is developing to expand the positive mental health effects of the Alive Center is franchising. She said she expects the first Alive franchise to open in fall 2025 in Addison Township.
Meanwhile, Henning also plans to work with other YMCAs in 2025 to try to create more certified locations that follow the Teen-Led, Teen-Driven format.
“We’re hoping this is a model that other YMCAs around the state would look to implement in order to positively impact teens in their communities,” Wilkinson said.
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