News
December 14, 2018Colonie Youth Center Relocates Office
The Chamber, along with Ambassadors, local elected officials, community supporters, family and friends were all on hand for the grand opening and ribbon cutting ceremony for the Colonie Youth Center on Thursday, December 13th.
“It’s a homecoming of sorts. CYC was founded in Latham as a private non-profit organization in the 1960’s and its first home was located just 2 miles from this new location. At that time CYC provided mainly recreational programs.” says CYC Executive Director Nikki Caruso.
In the late 70’s the organization merged with a similar group serving South Colonie students and became officially known as the Colonie Youth Center, Inc. Around this time the number of working families were growing and the need for a safe place for children before school and after school was evident. CYC worked with the North Colonie and South Colonie School Districts to secure space and the first CYC After-School Programs were formed. CYC’s Before-School Programs began a few years later.
Since then, the programs have flourished. Once serving 200 children, CYC now provides services to more than a thousand children daily in safe, inclusive environments with qualified staff and structured activities.
But it’s not enough. The demand for services in the ever-growing North Colonie area exceeds their current capacity. With space limitations in the current school buildings, it became apparent that an additional location was necessary. CYC began looking for just such a space in early 2018, finding this building which could house a school-age childcare program as well as their administrative offices. After months of renovation, CYC can now offer a beautiful, bright childcare space to help meet the needs of our North Colonie working families.
