Community Adolescent Resource and Education Center (CARE)
136 Suffolk StreetHolyokeMA01040
413-532-6350413-532-0335

Program: Teen Resource Project Year Started: 1988 Focus: Theater & Visual Arts Youth Served: 154 Ages: 13-19 Budget: $100,000 The Teen Resource Project is a community, after-school and summer program of the Community Adolescent Resource and Education Center (CARE), which works in Holyoke, Massachusetts, to prevent substance abuse, AIDS and teen pregnancy. In an effort to promote teens' self-esteem and to provide them with better decision-making skills, the Project keeps teens active and engaged in outdoor activities and the arts, particularly theater. In partnership with the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, Holyoke teens meet 5 days a week to create original theater pieces and use different visual arts media to build skills and explore issues relevant to their lives. The Project's theater company, the New Visions Theater, performs in English and Spanish. Their most recent performance dealt in a comic way with the serious problems facing new immigrants. Because of a recently formed partnership with the acclaimed Amherst-based New World Theater, teens will receive additional theater training and work with professionals of color.