Fun and safety. Rare commodities for kids who spend a lot of their time on downtown Denver streets. That's why The Spot exists. Brian Weber, Education Writer, Denver Rocky Mountain News

"Fun is not something most organizations want to fund. But fun and safety is what you need to attract the youth in the first place," observes The Spot's founder, Dave DeForest-Stalls.

Located in a two-story, red brick building near the federal courthouse in Denver, The Spot is open Sundays through Thursdays, from 5:30 to 10:30 PM and averages 50 to100 participants a night. Participation is 100 percent voluntary, with more than half of the 13- to 24-year-olds coming two or more times per week. The attractions include: five synthesizer-based music recording studios, internet radio production /DJing studio, CD burning, computer graphics and Web design, breakdancing, graffiti murals, magazine production (including its own magazine, Inner 303), a darkroom, ping pong, billiards, weight room, weekly barbecue, etc. The Spot also offers free preparation for a high school general equivalency diploma (GED) - with a $125 bonus going to each successful student.

Guiding the youth is an onsite staff of young professionals hired for their artistic talents as well as their abilities to relate and listen to a diverse group of urban adolescents. Each staff person is trained in suicide/crisis intervention, self-defense, and conflict mediation. Guiding The Spot in its mission - to help at risk urban adolescents mature into productive adults - is an active board of directors that works in conjunction with a wide range of funders and researchers such as the State of Colorado's Youth Crime Prevention and Intervention program.

Internal surveys of participants' behavior indicate reductions in crime - for example, assault or robbery (down 11 percent), illegal drug use (down 20 percent), gang involvement (down 9 percent), and arrests (down 25 percent). Participants' lives also tell success stories: Nichole, 17, a single mother, earned The Spot's GED and was promoted to management trainee with Walgreens; Carlos, 16, a Crip gang member with no home, fell in love with photography and found himself earning almost $100 a month from paid assignments. Cody, 17, a dropout and graffiti tagger, created his second graffiti magazine on Macintosh based Adobe Photoshop and Quark, and he re-enrolled in high school.

The Spot's Web site includes samples of its youth-created magazines, music CDs, graffiti, and other work, as well as helpful strategies for creating effective, adolescent-focused youth centers.