DUNNVILLE—The Dunnville Youth Impact Centre (YIC) is in the middle of a large renovation project to transform its second floor into a suite of spaces for everything from counselling services, to tutoring, to learning a new life skill.
Prior to the expansion, the upper level of YIC housed a small office area and two apartments. Now gutted, the framing is in place for the new rooms. Those rooms will include an inside window, keeping the spaces open, visible, and interconnected.
“We’re hoping to have all these renos done with the goal of January 2025,” said David Tunikaitis, YIC Executive Director. “We kind of outgrew the space; we deal with all kinds of issues, and we wanted to make sure we had enough space to adequately cover them.”
Between all the programs offered, YIC serves between 150-200 local youths, from elementary school to young adults. The centre has five staffers on hand, in addition to several community volunteers. Everyone involved at YIC is put through a vetting process and vulnerable sector check to ensure they are qualified to interact with the kids.
The tutoring services have greatly expanded recently at YIC as demand increased. While initially focused on high school students, the need has expanded to younger ages.
“Now we’re tutoring kids as young as grades 1-2,” Tunikaitis said. “The teachers are doing a fantastic job, but there’s so much need out there.”
Despite this need, the after school programs on Tuesdays and Thursdays “sort of took (tutoring) off the radar … as we needed the space for the after school programming,” he added. With the increased space upstairs, expanded tutoring and life skills programs can co-exist: “We teach baking, cooking, sewing, pottery, music, whatever we can do to help kids, and all of it is free.”
Tunikaitis said many volunteers have approached him at events, including when he gives presentations about the centre to organizations like the Optimist Club, “and from there a couple of the attendees say, ‘I teach pottery,’ or ‘I can teach the kids photography’.”
Once the volunteer leader is cleared to work at the centre, “we open that up to the kids and promote it. We make sure to ask the volunteers how many kids they want to work with because we don’t want to overload them,” noted Tunikaitis.
The centre also hosts intramural sports nights at Dundas Valley Secondary School every Friday evening. Tunikaitis described the popular weekly event as “parents and kids playing together in a safe environment free of charge.”
Counselling is a priority to become a new service at the centre. Tunikaitis noted that one staffer is currently enrolled in counselling training, with the goal of offering counselling by September 2025.
“There are some kids who are in crisis and there’s not really a qualified counsellor that we can find in Dunnville, so we send them to Welland and there’s a transportation issue. We thought if we could offer that in Dunnville, that would be fantastic,” said Tunikaitis, noting that the need for counselling could extend beyond the kids.
“When we do our community brunches, they are open up to the entire community…. It gives us a chance to connect with the parents or sometimes the grandparents, and sometimes they also need someone to talk to,” he said.
Those brunches are held weekly every year in July and August, and a monthly free meal is held every third Thursday of the month at 6 p.m. all school year long. Currently, with their kitchen space impacted by the renos, the cooking occurs at the nearby Pregnancy Care Centre, which has graciously donated their space until the renos are completed.
Tunikaitis said it’s vital to have a place to access free services that might otherwise present a financial challenge to many families in these difficult financial times.
“If you pay for tutoring, it’s expensive. If you pay for any life skill programming, it’s expensive. Even meals are expensive. We’re trying to eliminate all the economic barriers that some of the families are facing right now,” he said.
To ensure YIC will always remain free for local youth to access, they accept donations from the community toward their operational and capital expenses.
“I have found that Dunnville and Haldimand in general is a very giving community. If they know that there’s a need, we get support from individuals, businesses, foundations, churches – it’s great,” Tunikaitis added.
Those interested in donating or volunteering can visit the centre’s website at youthimpactcentre.com, where they can also find information about the centre’s upcoming Fall Gala and Silent Auction, taking place Saturday, November 2 at 6 p.m. in the Calvary Church.
Tunikaitis concluded, “I see all these pieces coming together, and we’re very excited about what we’re going to be able to offer Dunnville.”
