GOVERNOR Ralph DLG Torres on Tuesday joined the Division of Youth Services in opening a much bigger Tanapag Youth Center.
Also attending the event were Speaker Edmund S. Villagomez, Rep. Joseph Leepan T. Guerrero and Northern Marianas Housing Corp. Corporate Director Jesse Palacios. Rev. Isaac M. Ayuyu blessed the youth center as part of the opening ceremony.
In addition, the governor proclaimed February as Parent Leadership Month.
DYS Administrator Vivian Sablan said her division, which is part of the Department of Community and Cultural Affairs, received $200,000 for the project under a Housing and Urban Development Community Development Block Grant through NMHC.
“Our utmost appreciation to the honorable Governor Torres for considering and prioritizing this project and making sure that the application was funded,” Sablan said. She also thanked Palacios, NMHC Deputy Corporate Director Zenie Mafnas, DYS planner Tricia Tenorio and NMHC’s Jacob Muna “with whom we had countless meetings to ensure that the project was executed for the benefit of families and communities in general.”
Sablan said DYS wrote the grant application in 2018, but Super Typhoon Yutu, the recovery efforts in 2019 and the Covid-19 pandemic delayed the process.
After “countless planning and meetings, the project finally kicked off in April of 2021, and here we are now, a rehabilitated and expanded facility that will enable all of us to enhance services.”
In the weeks to come, Sablan said DYS will be scheduling parent classes, parent support group sessions, financial literacy classes for parents and youth, résumé writing and youth mentorship sessions among other activities.
She also said that DYS is working in partnership with the office of Rep. Sheila Babauta in conducting these educational activities.
Gov. Ralph DLG Torres signs a proclamation designating February as Parent Leadership Month while Northern Marianas Housing Corp. Corporate Director Jess Palacios, left, looks on at the expanded and rehabilitated Tanapag Youth Center on Tuesday.
