Facing a lack of demand and operating funds, Outback Teen Center needs a “critical intervention” from the town in order to continue, officials said Wednesday.
Outback Teen Center on Jan. 21, 2015. Credit: Michael Dinan
Since the nonprofit teen center opened behind Town Hall in April 2001, the landscape of youth services in town has changed dramatically, with more groups—including churches, schools and organizations such as the YMCA—expanding their offerings, officials said during a regular Board of Selectmen meeting, held in the Training Room at the New Canaan Police Department.
Funding sources such as corporate giving no longer are available in the numbers they once were, officials have said, and energy costs are high at the cavernous Outback building.
Addressing Outback Board of Directors President Sangeeta Appel and seeking to put into plain language the nonprofit organization’s position, First Selectman Rob Mallozzi said: “You would like to see a partnership with town, you still have an active board, you are still raising money and you have a mission. But what you are saying is that without some critical intervention or support from the town, that there is a chance that the Teen Center may not be here. But you are also saying that there is an opportunity to use the building and to partner with a great organization and you would be part of an overall structure of the teen resources in town.”
Sangeeta Appel is president of the Outback Board of Directors.
Appel said the Outback would like to “repurpose” its building into a wider “community center” that was program-driven, rather than as an increasingly disused, freestanding destination.
On the money side, Appel said a study of area teen centers shows that they’re not standalone organizations (though Outback was launched as a self-sustaining entity) but rather “integrated with the town” to get the “financial stability” that helps “make the numbers work.”
Spotlighting amenities at the Outback such as its cooking facilities, Appel sketched a broad vision of the Outback as a community hub that serves youth and families directly—say, as a rented space for a party that’s more intimate than something right for Waveny—and through fellow local nonprofit organizations.
Evoking Lapham Community Center, she said a possible partnership could see the town with a “presence” at Outback “to oversee the whole facility.”
“The board would still be on to fundraise and to cover other costs,” she said, suggesting a three-year trial where the town covers “utilities, insurance and some staffing.”
The selectmen credited Appel and the Outback board for their creativity and efforts in re-imagining the facility, while also calling for more details—specifically, Selectman Nick Williams asked for information on what exactly would be the town’s future role.
Selectman Beth Jones said, “I applaud your diligence in trying to make this work” and urged Appel to explore partnerships with the YMCA, which will be short of space during its widely anticipated renovation.
The discussion emerged during the Health and Human Services Department’s presentation to the Board of Selectmen for planned spending in fiscal year 2016. The department each year puts in for taxpayer funds for nonprofit organizations that serve New Canaanites (see page 114 here). In the current fiscal year, following a big push during budget talks last March, Outback received $20,000.
Outback officials since the summer have talked about expanding the teen center’s role in town and they re-launched the organization’s website.
Outback sits on town land, owns its building and in a recent tax filing the organization listed its net assets at $1.4 million.
Appel last summer had said that Outback would put a firm plan in the hands of the town.
That hasn’t happened just yet, so the $19,000 set aside for Outback in the Health and Human Services budget request now is “a placeholder,” said Carol McDonald, the department’s director.
“The status is kind of in limbo until we get an operating plan from the Outback,” McDonald said at the meeting. “It is out of our hands and within some town bodies’ hands now to be evaluated to see how the Outback is going to move forward, whether they’re going to partner with a different department, whereas our money would be released maybe to some of our other outside agencies. So it’s kind of a placeholder right now until we find out what that plan is going to be.”
Mallozzi requested from Appel a bullet-pointed proposal that could be evaluated to see what, if anything, is possible.
Mallozzi mentioned the possibility of moving the Outback under the town Recreation Department and said that the $19,000 earmarked a placeholder now for the organization “should be spent on youth services.”
“Kids In Crisis getting a big number [$52,000] but I think what we need to decide is where we spend the money—if it truly belongs to the Outback, if it [Outback] is a viable alternative. But if not, I would like to see that money go toward other groups in town that are doing some unbelievable things.”