Central Community House is a comprehensive neighborhood-based community center that has been serving the near east side of Columbus since 1937! The project that Puffin West is so pleased to help fund involves 15-20 urban teens who are in the Transit Arts program at CCH who will be collaborating with 25 OSU Department of Industrial, Interior and Visual Communication students of Professor Susan Melsop. CCH prior to moving into their new facility on East Main Street occupied a home on Bryden Road which will now be turned into a satellite campus that will serve as a Center for Art and Community. Transit Arts youth development program uses culturally relevant art activities to give teens an outlet for self-expression, to develop business and real life skills, and to provide an alternative to gangs, delinquency, or an otherwise destructive or sedentary lifestyle all-too-often prevalent in their challenged neighborhood, This program will offer these teens exposure to as well as the opportunity to participate in design skill workshops on campus as they work on projects to help identify the needs for the new Center. The grant will help provide over 50 hours of high quality, creative based education. It is hoped that his valuable learning experience alongside college students may also inspire these teens to work towards obtaining a higher education or a professional career path involving creative design.
