Jeppie Phillips, youth leader, with some of Midcoast Youth Center’s young people, staff and volunteers. Contributed / Jamie Dorr

Midcoast Youth Center is looking for space in downtown Bath to serve as a base for its new workforce development program for 16- to 24-year-olds.

The program, funded with a two-year $430,000 grant that MYC received this year from the Children’s Cabinet of the Maine Economic Committee, is designed to help teens and young adults develop work readiness skills, explore their passions and develop those passions with local businesses and organizations, according to MYC founder and Executive Director Jamie Dorr.  

A downtown hub for the program is needed because “every inch of this space” is now being used at the current building next to Bath Middle School, “and it would be hard to serve 16- to 24-year-olds in this chaotic of a space,” Dorr said.  

The center typically works with young adults now on an outreach basis, bringing its services and programming to them.

Bath Printing has been working with the center to find space downtown. Bath Printing also has a connection with an art professor in London who has offered to teach young adults in Maine. “Those are the opportunities we’re really excited to see come to fruition,” Dorr said.

One of the biggest challenges for that age group is access to driver’s education and transportation, she said, which is something she plans to tackle with the Workforce Development program. 

She also hopes to bring in many different services for youth such as social workers, substance use treatment and local banks to offer financial literacy. She said she wants to “really connect them with their downtown space, because they have felt so disconnected from it for a long time.” 

While schools are offering many great programs around workforce development, she said, MYC’s programming is more focused on youth who feel disconnected from school, or have unenrolled or dropped out. “We want to reach back out to people and reconnect them,” she said. 

The center serves over 500 youths a year, with a focus on Sagadahoc County.

“Kids literally run up here after school,” Dorr said.

Twelve-year-old Savanah Plummer visits the youth center every day.

“It’s the most amazing place in the world,” Plummer said because of all “the good people,” including fellow students, volunteers and mentors.

Jeppie Phillips, a senior at Morse High School and a youth leader at MYC for about three years, said the most rewarding part of what he does is “being an amazing influence to the youth.” He conducts activities with the kids, helps them with schoolwork and volunteers as a camp counselor in the summers.

“He’s a really good hype man,” Dorr said. “He’s always giving words of encouragement.” 

In 2021, Phillips was granted the City of Bath Youth Award for his work with MYC. 

“If MYC wasn’t a thing, I’d be wasting my time and energy on unimportant things,” said Phillips. “So I’m glad I have the opportunity to come here and be with them because it’s like another family and I know a lot of them look up to me.” 

When Dorr noticed that Phillips, an aspiring musician, was recording music on his phone, they started discussing developing a recording studio for MYC members. She said she’d like to incorporate the studio into the downtown hub.

The center also was the recent recipient, along with a team of Sagadahoc community partners, of a three-year $375,000 grant this year from the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, to go toward reducing rates of youth hopelessness in the county.

Dorr said the funders provide, “a lot of feedback and technical assistance … it’s a very interactive partnership.”