Community Youth Program

The Community Youth Program (CYP) at St. John's provides enriching after-school, summer and leadership programs for low-income Roanoke area youth. The mission of CYP is to encourage learning and the development of a positive self-image, and to provide a network of support for 4th - 8th grade students and their families.

CYP was started 17 years ago by a group of parishioners at St. John’s Episcopal Church. In the midst of a capital campaign for building expansion & renovation, they decided to reserve some of the funds raise to start a new ministry within the church. After a lot of research and conversations in the community, they found that there were not many after school programs in Roanoke City for middle school youth. So they set out to start an after school program for middle school students in Roanoke City and decided to call it The Community Youth Program. In the Fall of 1998, the Community Youth Program was established as its own 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and enrolled their first group of students.

As the years went by, CYP decided to expand to 4th & 5th grade students, so that CYP could work with the students longer and make more of a difference in their lives. In 2012, CYP started offering a summer program in addition to the year-round after school programming.

Currently, CYP provides after school programming during the school year and six weeks of summer programming to 30 students at a time. On top of our daily, structured, homework help, we also help our students learn about and give back to the community through service learning.

Throughout the school year, we are trying to fill positions for tutors and general volunteers. Tutors work one on one with individual students (sometimes a small group) from 4:15 pm - 5:00 pm one or more days a week, Monday through Thursday. General volunteers can be involved in a number of ways, helping staff lead activities. Program hours during the school year are 2:30 pm - 6:00 pm Monday through Friday.

Program hours during the summer are Monday-Thursday, 2:30pm - 6:00pm.  Summer volunteers assist students in pre-planned activities and are eligible to accompany students and staff during field trips.  Summer provides an excellent opportunity to get to know our students and bond with them.