1. Toussaint Center for Teens without Homes Evolves into Academy of the Arts and Sciences
   By Martha Lepore
2. Looking at “A Children’s Village”
   By Bill Bolstad - Toussaint Youth Villages
3. Teens Compete During Trial Run at Being on Their Own
   By Jodi Cilley
4. A ‘Light’ for ALL
   By Michael Wall - Director of Planned Giving

Teens Compete During Trial Run at Being on Their Own
By Jodi Cilley

This past June, youths at the Toussaint Teen Center were treated to a rather extraordinary event. Education and fun were the main priority of a downtown scavenger hunt that gave the teens a swift taste of reality. The scavenger hunt was organized by Angela Brannon from the It’s All About the Kids Foundation and run by a team of volunteers from the Rotaract Club, Capital One Auto Finance, Partying for a Purpose, and numerous other downtown businesses. The event had one main goal: to show the teens all the joys and tribulations of life on their own.

Armed with a copy of the Toussaint Times, a fictitious newspaper with classified ads and articles containing clues on how to succeed at the game, teens were sent racing through the Gaslamp Quarter in downtown San Diego. The teens scanned the fake classifieds for jobs, apartments, furniture stores, utilities, and more. The ads led them to real and fictitious businesses where they could acquire the things that a newly independent person would need to be successful.

Volunteers were positioned all over downtown at these various businesses to help the teens fill out real paperwork for college and financial aid, job applications, apartment leases, and so on. There were even “police” on the lookout with tickets for jaywalkers and loiterers.

The key to the game was making good choices. Is it a good idea to spend $900 on a couch while working minimum wage in retail?  Hmmm. Do you need extended cable with all of the movie channels when you don’t even have electricity yet? Probably not!

Based on the choices that they made and the tasks that they accomplished, they were given scores. The teams with the highest scores won great prizes and everyone received incentives for participating. At the end of the day, all of the volunteers and residents met at Ventanas restaurant for a pizza party, music, and prizes.

One tired youth said, “I didn’t realize there was so much you had to do when you’re on your own!”

The event sponsors included Ciro’s Pizzeria, Splash Bath and Body, Deco’s, Gaslamp Insurance, Ventanas, 101 Market Street, Café Bassam, Z Gallerie, Market Street Bar and Grill, Multimedia Systems, Knox Services, Acqua Al 2, Flagship Enterprises, Inc., The Faerie Store, Sleeptrain, Marketplace Grille, Wells Fargo, Ralph’s, Rock Bottom Restaurant, and Candelas.