Teens on Call / Teenforce

About Teens On Call

Teens on Call is a year round program which has provided meaningful work and life skills training to over 1,500 at-risk teenagers in Maui County over the past nineteen years. Since its start in 1994 as a grassroots community-based volunteer program, Teens on Call has grown to become a model program recognized by numerous county, state, and judicial agencies, and educators. Teens on Call has also been recognized as an effective supervised adolescent work study transition program for all students as well as adjudicated, learning disabled, or other disadvantaged students covered under state and federal mandates.

Project Based Learning

The Teens on Call program incorporates a wide range of ongoing work projects in which over 100 teenagers participate each year under the supervision and guidance of job coaches who serve as working mentors and positive role models for the teenagers. Teens on Call serves teens from ages 13 - 19, many of whom have been impacted by a variety of factors which result in reading and learning disabilities that handicap the students' learning within the traditional classroom setting. Many adolescents are "latch key" kids whose parents or single parent are working two jobs to make ends meet and have little or no quality time to spend providing practical hands-on guidance to their children, almost all of whom are eager for hands-on experience. Some youth are from distressingly dysfunctional backgrounds. Very few of these teens have had the opportunity to develop practical work ethics or even basic work skills.

Teens on Call also helps these teens practice basic problem solving and expand social skills associated with repeated, guided, hands-on experiences, working with peers in accomplishing tasks. Students also receive a stipend as an additional incentive. Measureable outcomes are evident via observable skills learned, tasks and projects completed, and positive self esteem exhibited. This can quickly and noticeably brighten the young person's outlook on life giving "hope" to their future.