To many teens, young children, and even parents and grandparents, the NYS Rec Center feels like a second home. We love watching young people grow up with us!
Affordable, highly NYS-subsidized, Rec Center memberships provide access to age-appropriate recreation and physical space. NYS Rec Center memberships reach across four age groups:
Weekday, after-school drop-in center providing middle schoolers a place to be other than home alone. NYS strives to keep middle school students engaged, connected, and productive. Through the Rec Center, NYS provides open gym space, homework help, afternoon programs, social and quiet spaces, support, and community service opportunities. Nearly 20% of public middle school students participate in the Rec Center.
High School Rec Center offerings are focused on evenings and weekends. Friday night hangouts, high school band nights, open gym, and other teen-focused programs are offered through this membership. High schoolers also work and volunteer alongside NYS staff at the after-school drop-in center.
On scheduled school early release days, the middle school Rec Center opens to “upper elementary” youth for the entire afternoon. This allows fourth and fifth graders to explore Rec Center offerings, have fun, and feel comfortable in the environment and with other age groups before becoming full members.
On weekday mornings, offers a safe indoor space for young children to explore with their peers, using age-appropriate equipment. Provides pre-schoolers and their parents/caretakers with a place get to know each other and to get to know NYS as a resource.
Outside of memberships, we work to engage teens in a number of ways, from leadership development to foreign travel.
Youth Council is a youth-led group open to 7th-12th graders. The Council leads projects, campaigns, and events with the goal of improving the community for youth, including the creation of Newburyport’s Youth Bill of Rights and a youth suicide prevention campaign, It’s our 20%.
NYS engages teens in discovering the world outside their local community with their peers. Day or overnight trips may include ski and surfing trips, museum days, community service, evenings at the theater, theme parks, hiking, and trips to New York City or Montreal.
For younger teens with their parents and older teens alone, NYS partners with non-profit organizations in other countries (e.g., Africa, Central America) to offer service trips. These trips, facilitate opportunities for young people to explore other cultures and ways of life, interact meaningfully with native residents of these regions, and understand similarities and differences between themselves and those they meet.
We also employ between 25-35 young people every year as part of the NYS Team!
Recreation Programs year round from Birth- 18 and Families! Visit our online registration page for updates and information (including the latest brochure).
NYS is committed to empowering our young people. The Newburyport Youth Council is a youth-led community engagement committee for grades 7-12. Learn more about the Youth Council.
Newburyport Youth Services has chosen to develop its recreation, prevention and empowerment programming around the Positive Youth Development approach. Learn more about the 40 Assets and our “I Supoort YA” campaign.
NYS provides support to children and families in a number of ways. From the Parent Speaker Series to crisis intervention, programs to mentoring. Learn more about all that we offer!
NYS is committed to working with partners in the community to foster healthy youth development throughout the city! We are also passionate about enagaging young people in their own community.