Chairman Message | Our History | Our Mission, Vision, and Goals | Our Values | Our Programs

OUR HISTORY
The Overtown Youth Center was the vision of local real estate developer Martin Z. Margulies. Through the Margulies Foundation, he built the Overtown Youth Center with the support of Alonzo Mourning in hopes of creating a safe haven for the children in Overtown. Opening in early 2003, the Overtown Youth Center (OYC) is a state-of-the-art facility located in the heart of Miami's inner city. The Center co-locates academic and recreational activities in a safe environment, working with children, families, and schools from grade 2 to graduation. We offer in-school, after-school, weekend, and summer programs that include academic enhancement, physical fitness, health care and nutrition, creative arts, prevention, character-building, and family-oriented activities, including parent orientation.

OUR MISSION, VISION, GOALS
The mission of the Overtown Youth Center is to inspire and empower youth and families by fostering hope through enrichment services.

Our vision is to inspire, empower and enrich the lives of our students.

Our goal is to be an integral part of the community by delivering enrichment services that foster hope and promote life-long learning and success for our inner-city youth and citizens. Our goal is to help build a child who is resilient. A resilient child is a child who can live in an environment that is loaded with risk factors, including drugs and crime/violence, a chance at growing into a competent and productive member of society.

OUR VALUES
The OYC Standards are a set of values based on peaceful co-existence with others. For a social program to truly be successful in this day and age we must instill a set of standards or values in the students we are responsible for. By establishing and adhering to the standards we have establish a set of expectations for our students. Students normally live-up to (or down to) the expectations we (significant adults) have established for them. We do not claim perfect adherence to the OYC Standards, but we do claim progress. The word progress is important because learning and practicing the OYC Standards is a progressive process. It is our expectation (and hope) that all students learn to say the OYC Standards flawlessly during their elementary school. You will see from our outline we have exercises designed to help students understand each standards root meaning. During middle school, students should be able to express the OYC Standards in abstract terms. Middle school students should understand the “preamble” to the OYC Standards and it’s meaning as well. By the time a student reaches high school, students should begin to see and express how the OYC Standards impact their lives.

OYC STANDARDS
The OYC Standards are founded upon the principles of integrity and respect.

Integrity...because integrity exemplifies truthfulness, modesty and trustworthiness.

Respect...because respect exemplifies
courtesy, honor and reverence.

At OYC we greet each other everyday with a smile and a handshake to strengthen the relationship between us.

At OYC we honor and respect each other and so we address one another with proper language and speech.

At OYC we value the space of ourselves, and others and are careful not to intrude or injure each other.

At OYC we are mindful of what is true, and strive to be honest with word and deed.

At OYC we treasure our rich culture and we hold the cultures of all people in high regard.

At OYC we strive to reflect our beauty both inwardly in our understanding and outwardly in our appearance.

Each of the OYC Standards has a corresponding meaning and root value(s): Standard one stresses the ability of students to establish positive relationships with others; Standard two emphasizes verbal respect for others; Standard three expresses physical respect for others; Standard four is based on honesty, consistency and responsibility; Standard five stresses cultural identity, pride and tolerance; and; Standard six talks about self-esteem and sense of belonging. Each of these “standards” are very important in establishing a set of values that if learned properly, will become part of the students moral compass for the rest of their lives.

OUR PROGRAMS
OYC programs are designed to engage children in educational and recreational activities that promote their physical, cognitive, motor, social, and emotional development. After-school services are provided both at our site and within our partner schools and are coordinated closely with in-school services. During the after school hours, students attend daily educational enrichment classes focused on homework assistance, skill building, FCAT preparation, and remediation. Students participate in daily recreational activities that include culturally diverse forms of physical exercise and creative arts. We also offer a range of preventive and character-building activities designed to empower children to identify and avoid negative influences and to pursue positive ones.