$1.2 Million for Augusta Youth Center Secured by Senator Collins in Funding Bill in First Key Step

Washington, D.C.--U.S. Senator Susan Collins, a senior member of the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee, announced that she secured $1,200,000 to expand the Augusta Teen Center in the draft Fiscal Year 2023 Housing and Urban Development appropriations bill.  

As the Ranking Member and lead Republican on the Housing and Urban Development Appropriations Subcommittee, Senator Collins secured funding for this project in the bill, which was officially released by the full Senate Appropriations Committee today and must now be voted upon by the full Senate and House.

“The Augusta Teen Center is a wonderful program that provides at-risk youth with a safe, structured environment to learn new skills, make friends, and have fun,” said Senator Collins.  “I advocated for this project to provide a new building that would allow the Augusta Teen Center to serve more young Mainers and prepare them for a lifetime of success.  As a senior member of the Appropriations Committee, I will champion this funding as the appropriations process moves forward.”

The Augusta Teen Center is a satellite Boys & Girls Club of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Waterville at the Alfond Youth & Community Center.

For 22 years, the Augusta Teen Center has been the only Augusta-area organization providing free after-school programming for at-risk, low income teenagers.  The program helps these teens learn marketable skills and healthy living habits, increase developmental assets, enhance academic success, and engage in community service.  With growing enrollment, the program is in need of a larger, more functional space.

This funding would renovate a bigger, better-situated, and more functional facility in downtown Augusta to continue to expand and enable new programming.  The space would allow the organization to more than double its capacity and serve 500 teens in the first year of operation as well as provide 20 new jobs immediately.