Cafe to be established in Chapel Hill to keep teens off the street

It was a tragic moment for Elaine Jerome, 82, when she saw teenagers hanging out around the trunk of a car in a parking lot.

For Jerome, a grandmother and former educator, it was a sign that Chapel Hill needed a place teens could call their own.

Elaine Jerome created the Teen Support Coalition to build resources for a population she saw as left out. The coalition is now working to establish a cafe run by teens and supported financially by adults.

“When I moved here about eight years ago to be with my daughter and granddaughter, who is a teenager, I noticed there was very little for that age group to do,” Jerome said.

“For younger kids there was sports, Little League, ballet lessons, but that was all for kids under the age of 12. Once they hit 12, it all stopped. There was a real void when it came to teens.”

Chapel Hill already has one place for youth to socialize, the Street Scene Teen Center under the Franklin Street post office, but center president Robert Humphreys said the location doesn’t have enough space.

“I have said for almost 20 years that there are about eight or nine thousand teens in Chapel Hill and Carrboro, and the existing center we run in the post office can only accommodate about 150,” Humphreys said.

Jerome said she put together a board of community members to create the cafe, which they hope will open within the year.

“A member of the board, Michael Irwin, found that (teenagers) were looking for a place to socialize, to interact, maybe with a library or an art gallery,” Jerome said.

Jerome said they began researching the project by holding a youth summit and applying for grants.

After receiving two grants, coalition chairwoman Lue Simopoulos said board members used them to create a website and hire people to recruit teens.

“I’m the mother of a teenager now, and fortunately she’s so involved she doesn’t need anywhere to go,” she said. “But I have friends with teenagers and for some of those kids, where do they go?”

Simopoulos said board members still haven’t found a space to house the cafe but would like to have a site donated within walking distance of downtown and big enough for all the needs of the youth.

The board wants the cafe to feature a weekly dance, a place to study and maybe an open mic for poetry, Simopoulos said.

Humphreys, who is a coalition board member, said finding a space is the most important concern for the group. He said that if a location is donated, he could see the cafe up and running in a few months.

“I’ve been doing this for 25 years, so I can give them advice when they talk about applying for grants and non-profit status, helping with the organization of the place and getting teens involved and such,” he said.

Jerome said ultimately, she wants the center to give kids wandering the streets a constructive place to go.

Teens who would like to be involved can meet Wednesday at 7 p.m. at the Hargraves Community Center, she said.

Contact the City editor at citydesk@unc.edu.