The Carmel Youth Center‘s (CYC) mission is to provide a positive environment for the youth of Carmel and surrounding communities and to help the youth develop strong values in citizenship through encouraging volunteerism and peer mentoring in the arts, athletics, and academics.
Carmel Youth Center is expanding its Center for a Healthy Lifestyle program to serve approximately 200 children annually through hands-on, garden and kitchen-based learning. This program engages youth in meaningful experiences focused on gardening, nutrition, cooking, environmental awareness, and healthy living.
Children participate in small-group sessions throughout the year. Activities include planting, harvesting, and maintaining a working garden, as well as preparing meals using fresh ingredients grown on-site. These experiences help youth understand where their food comes from and how to make nutritious choices. In addition to practical skills, participants build confidence, teamwork, and a sense of responsibility.
he CYC helps hundreds of young people and their families from Monterey County. The children gain access to a fun, dynamic, and social environment in which they gain valuable skills and knowledge through a wide array of engaging activities, while the parents can go to work knowing that their children are safe and being actively empowered to grow as individuals.
The CYC benefits all those residing and working in Monterey County by raising young people into confident and capable leaders ready to ensure the well-being of their community while molding its future. Critically, it does this in an accessible manner by attracting many young people from low-income backgrounds, breaking down socioeconomic boundaries to foster a truly community-wide youth center and a more equitable future community.
CYC is the best place for the kids to grow and connect together. This place makes the kids feel free, safe, and like it's a place they can call their own. We love the CYC!
- Krissie Salmoun, Carmel
