Every weekday, unless it’s a Wednesday, at around 3:30 p.m. elementary school kids at the New Image Youth Center in Parramore, are lining up for smoothies.
The center, which provides comprehensive after-school and summer camp programs for K-12 students in Parramore and surrounding communities, is a well-oiled machine.
Its founder Dr. Shanta Barton-Stubbs opened the center twenty years ago. It provides after-school tutoring and reading help, job readiness training, a daily meal program and mental health counseling, along with other services.
“My father moved his church from Winter Park to Parramore. And there was a strong need that needed to be filled. And at the time, I didn't know that I would be filling that need for 20 years, but just at that moment, the kids needed something and they needed hope and they needed someone. And I just began to do that. And over time, it grew into what we have now, the New Image Youth Center, aka the good in the hood," said Barton-Stubbs.
Toni Crabtree works for New Image as a student advocate. She said the waitlist for the center is long.
“There's a lot of different services, wraparound services for kids who've lost parents, houses, temporary housing that we provide now, for people who lose their housing that I mean, that's unheard of," said Crabtree.
But Crabtree said the success of the center is largely due to Miss Shanta herself.
“I don't even know how many people Miss Shanta is mentoring, whether in life, or in business, or in school. I'm aware of a number of them, but basically all of us, she mentors all of us and a whole lot of people that we don’t know. I mean, from the parents, who take some coaching or direction or who get assistance from us, to the former students who are building careers, the ones who come back here and work during college breaks, it's all of them. You know who they call?," said Crabtree.
Crabtree said that care even extends to kids who have aged out of the program, like a recent student who moved out of state for college.
“And when she went to college, she'd never been out of town, out of the state before. And Miss Shanta and her husband moved her up to her college dorm and got her settled, like parents do, right? You go to Target, you get all the stuff or Walmart or Costco, you get all this stuff, they did all that for her," said Crabtree.
Susan Ramirez with DPR Construction, who recently helped revamp the center’s playground area, said she’s blown away by what Barton-Stubbs has accomplished. Dozens of alumni have gone on to get college degrees.
“Not many people can do what she has done and is continuing to do each and every day she is out there, pounding the pavement, just doing everything that she possibly can everyday for these kids. And I just love her for that," said Ramirez.
Ramirez said she hopes Barton-Stubbs gets to realize her dream of finding a new space for the center, soon.
“She started from a little, little tiny apartment space helping like two or three kids. And now she's helping, you know, over 100 kids throughout the summer, year round," said Ramirez.
Back at the center, surrounded by laptop computers, and a word of the day board, Dr. Barton-Stubbs said one thing’s for sure: no matter the space they’re in, it’s always about the kids.
“We want our kids to know that we do this because of them. They make the work easy," said Barton-Stubbs.
Learn more about New Image's work here. Help Dr. Barton-Stubbs build a new home for NIYC here.
