In December, Goldin teen program participants were shooting a video to promote the center. (Photo by PrincessSafiya Byers)
By PrincessSafiya Byers
This story was originally published by Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service, where you can find other stories reporting on fifteen city neighborhoods in Milwaukee. Visit milwaukeenns.org.
The COA Youth and Family Centers’ teen program at its Goldin location has served youths in the Amani neighborhood since the agency opened the building at 2320 W. Burleigh Ave.
In March, COA’s Executive Director Amy Rowell said the program was on a pause.
At the time, she said, “We are shifting our focus to core and direct programming and building up the capacity of both of our primary locations, with a lot of my attention being given to reimagining and developing the full potential of Goldin.”
Rowell declined to comment for this story.
But teens interviewed by NNS say the teen program never truly reopened and that the program is currently closed and will remain closed through at least the summer.
Naveah Brown, 17, started attending the program in 2022. She said she took a break for a few months to handle personal issues and when she was ready to return, there was no program to come back to.
“They didn’t say they were closed. They said they didn’t have official hours,” she said. “So, we would just have to go to the building and hope they let us in.”
She said in mid-April, she was told the program was closed for the year.
The teen program is one in a growing list of services that the agency canceled this summer, including the organization’s annual Skyline Music Series, overnight summer camp and its 30-year partnership with Milwaukee Recreation that served youths across the city.
Here is what we know
Goldin’s teen program was the only program in the Amani neighborhood catered to teens.
In March, the program was put on a pause and downsized.
Since then, teen participants have struggled to keep up with what was happening in the program they’d frequented daily.
DeAnna Washington, the former youth program director, said when she left the agency in August 2024, the teen program was thriving.
“I got to see the program grow from a small after school program to a community, led by the teens in the program,” she said. “Teens were participating in a catering program and learning to advocate for themselves.”
Washington said other programs being offered were career development, a council, daily check-ins, restorative practice, arts programs and more.
Ingrid Campbell, the program manager for restorative practices at Children’s Wisconsin, worked with COA teens on restorative practices for three years.
She said the restorative practice program exists to prevent harm and build community, and that’s exactly what happened at COA Goldin.
“Those kids were a family,” she said. “It bothers me that there is no teen space for them to go to.”
Campbell said she stopped her partnership at the beginning of the year because she felt the program was under-resourced and her relationship with the teens was used to communicate changes within the agency to them.
“Teens would come in looking for access to mental health resources, housing resources and food,” she said. “They are dealing with adult issues and didn’t feel like their needs were being met.”
Washington said the center was partnering with other agencies to employ program participants with jobs and internships.
“Some of them lost their jobs and potential employment opportunities,” she said. “Even some of the young people I’ve spoken with that have resources and help from their families are kind of stuck.”
COA’s website no longer has any mention of teen or pre-teen programming at the COA Goldin Center.