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OGDEN — Increasing numbers of teen centers have been taking shape in high schools across Utah, aiming to help homeless and housing-insecure students and others who just seek a safe space away from their homes to decompress.
More than 50 Utah high schools have received state grant funds to create them and around a dozen have teen centers, including several Davis School District facilities.
Now the first grade school in Utah has one — Odyssey Elementary in Ogden — and Principal Sonja Davidson, one of several to speak at the grand opening Thursday of the facility, foresees good things. The Family Support Center, as it's called, contains laundry facilities, private showering space, a food pantry and an area where students and their families can congregate.
Beyond that, she said, "It provides a space where hope can grow."
The need for such space is strong, Davidson said, in part because a homeless shelter, Lantern House, sits within the Odyssey boundaries and kids living there attend the school. Odyssey is home to around 30 homeless students and another 15-20 with serious housing needs, estimates Brynn Murdock, head of the Ogden School Foundation, which aided in the initiative.
Moreover, the school — home to a student body that is 79% economically disadvantaged, according to state statistics — is receiving increasing numbers of Central American and Venezuelan students who lack resources, Davidson said. Some of the newcomers rely on Lantern House for shelter as they get their bearings while others, though not technically homeless, are packed into crowded households that are home to multiple families. The Odyssey student body is 78% Hispanic, according to Utah Board of Education numbers.
Odyssey, Davidson said, is the "perfect place" for a support center while Emily Bell McCormick, president of the Policy Project, thinks such facilities are merited in every school. The Policy Project is a nonprofit, Salt Lake-based group that has advocated for teen centers.
Teen and support centers "will become a very normal part of a school here on out, like a library," said McCormick, on hand at Thursday's event.
According to Policy Project stats, 54 schools or school districts have tapped into some $15 million allocated by Utah lawmakers during the 2023 session to help create teen or support centers. A dozen or so are already operable, including eight at Davis School District high schools. Officials from Wilson Elementary in Logan have been allocated funds, but Odyssey Elementary is the first Utah grade school to actually open a facility.
"Life is overwhelming for all of us," said Erica Duncan, an Odyssey parent, and the new facility provides space for "anything you can think of just to take the load off."
Utah Rep. Karianne Lisonbee, R-Cleafield, addressed the gathering, touting the new facility's role in promoting the family unit. "We need to do everything we can to support our families and to strengthen the next generation," she said.
Arlene Anderson, a member of the Ogden school board, believes the facility "will nurture a path towards self-sufficiency and ultimately help our students, parents and families regain a sense of security and hope for the future."
The Ogden School Foundation has helped spearhead the Odyssey Elementary effort, and Murdock said such facilities have a rough price tag of around $500,000. The Odyssey facility, to be overseen by a staffer, received state grant funds, Ogden School District money and donations from the private sector. It sits in space that used to house an aeronautical and space program at the school that has since moved.
Teen centers are also in the works at Ogden and Ben Lomond high schools in Ogden, among many other locations across Utah.
