I remember my teen years well. Now, I’m as old as you can get and still be considered a millennial, so I have a different view of my teen years than many younger people or teens today do. We didn’t have smart phones. We didn’t have endless options for streaming shows on our phones or TVs. We didn’t have games or “social” media that locked us in our rooms to engage in relationships from afar. But, we still had some phrases in common: “I’m bored”, “There is nothing to do around here”, “I’m hungry”, and “What do you want to do?”

Do you remember your teen years? Did you ever utter those phrases? Normally, when I did I was told that I could find something to do or my parents would “find something for me to do”. I always found something else to do it seemed.

Whatever your teen years were like, we all had something in common that can’t be overlooked: We needed to engage with people around us. We needed older teenagers to teach us what they knew or were learning. We needed adults to teach us how to do the odds and ends jobs that really got us started in life. Some of us had parents who worked dawn to dusk and we needed adults to supervise us, keep us busy, engage with us on a deeper level than “Hey, how are you?” Teens today are the same way.

In Cascade, we are presented with some unique circumstances. It is a rural mountain community, so many teens live miles from other teens once they go home. Many parents are working those dawn to dusk jobs as Cascade figures out how to re-invent itself after losing the lumber mill. Teens don’t find other teens in churches or other social gathering places like they used to. Largely, teens don’t have many people to speak into their lives. This leads teens to do what teens do: Go find someone to hang out with and something to do. When snow sticks around for over half the year, for many kids this leaves them to find respite in social media and games. For others, the path darkens towards alcohol, drugs, and teen pregnancy.

This is where the Game Changer comes in. Imagine a place that is the place to “hang out with something to do.” Because, that is what teens want. But, it provides something more: A place for teens to connect and engage each other in larger social settings, to learn how to have a conversation, how to resolve disputes, how to find a job, all with the help of other teens and adults in mentoring relationships.

Imagine the change that could come from having a place like this. Imagine the influence you could have in shaping a community, not just the next generation, but for generations to come. Imagine creating a culture of adults mentoring teens who mentor teens who become adults that mentor teens. What could Cascade’s teen culture look like in 5 years? 10 years? 50 years from now?

Will you join us in this monumental effort?



Josh Hurley
Horizons’ Game Changer - Committee Chair

We are currently in our fundraising effort. This is a likely reason you are reading this right now! We believe we will find government or private grants to also help support this effort. And, we also believe that for this effort to truly succeed we need people who care to put their treasure where their heart is. We know you work hard for the money and resources we may be asking from you. We aren’t looking for a handout. We are looking for an investment. We want you to invest enough that you care to ask about how it is going. We want you to drop in and see your investment at work. If we just wanted money, we could work at finding it and we would start the teen center. But, we also want your investment. We want your commitment so the teen center can not just start, but thrive and continue as a staple of the Cascade community.

Seriously, we don’t mess around. If you were thinking we wanted some couches and PlayStations, hang in there, because we’ll get to that, but first, the bowling lanes.

As Josh has been teaching at the school again and again he has heard teens express they wished they had someplace to go hang out or go on a date, inevitably they name bowling lanes in the next sentence. Traditional bowling lanes take a lot of room. They also take specialized equipment like shoes, various bowling ball sizes, etc. And, many bowling alley’s across the nation are shutting down due to lack of interest. This is why we will be using the latest trend in America to make sure we have a low-maintenance, low-overhead activity for years to come: Social Duckbill Bowling. These lanes are shorter. The balls and pins are smaller. And, a perfect game has never been bowled! All of these factors unite for the perfect fit for Cascade buildings, economy and families. Teen pricing will follow the pricing structure we address later in this packet. There will be open times available to the public and rental times available for corporate retreat use to help fund the center.
 See 'The App' section!

We don't have every detail of pricing sorted out, yet. However, we have thought through a model for pricing that we think will be highly impactful at offsetting costs and providing equal access to all teens. Here is a rough shot at what it should look like: $30 / month or current enrollment in teen mentoring program $20.00 an hour $20.00 an hour $25 per person / minimum 10 people
Includes Soda and Popcorn
Use of TV screens, gaming consoles, bowling alley, and wi-fi.

One of our strategies in creating a true mentorship program in Cascade is to prevent highly qualified High Schoolers from leaving the area without first getting them to invest in the next generation of High School students.

To do this, our pricing model for teens will create scarcity (it costs them something to get in!) and also solve that scarcity by directing them towards mentoring relationships.

Each month High Schoolers will be sent a list of questions to meet with the junior high student (of the same gender, not a family member) that they are mentoring and to go through the questions with them. The High School student will recap the mentoring conversation and turn it in. At the beginning of each month, each Junior High student will be asked to validate they have met with their mentor and will be asked to give a brief overview of the conversation. Once both of these are connected to each other, both students receive free entry for the next month to the Game Changer! Students who can't find someone to mentor or to be mentored by will check in with the Game Changer and be connected.

The community will be asked to sponsor x number of students they would like to support for the mentorship program and can pay recurring and monthly through the website or in person and can receive updates that include the types of mentoring conversations taking place.

How are we going to keep track of all this? Technology! Members of our team specialize in writing apps and websites that integrate. See 'The App' section for more details.

To plan for accompanying Cascade School's mission of engaging students in character development and rigorous education, we plan to have 5 sections of hours spelled out for use of the Game Changer:

We'd love to roll all of this out in one summer. However, we know that it is not practical or the best approach to a healthy Teen Center.

We have broken the effort into 3 different phases that will be used in our communications so our stakeholders and teens will know the progress we are making. In Phase One we will meet the following objectives:

• Identify and involve stakeholders
• Setup branding, website and app.
• Identify Phase One building needs and secure appropriate space
• Secure insurance and establish background check provider
• Identify and involve Teen Advisory Board.
• Establish Phase One facilities including:
  • 'Living-room' spaces with couches, beanbags, coffee-tables, etc. (2)
  • Tech bar
  • Round tables with chairs (4)
  • Gaming lounge areas with gaming chairs, TV, playstation. (3)
  • Pool Table
  • Foosball Table
  • Sound System
  • Camera System
  • Concession area (popcorn maker, snack-bar, etc)

To begin Phase One, we will need to raise approximately $24,000. If we can 
 secure a donated building, this number will drop to approximately $8,000.
Pledged donations and/or grants should equal $24,000 a year.
To begin Phase One, we will need to recruit a teen advisory board and at 
 least 3 volunteers. We'd love to be entering Phase One in September of 2021. Phase Two is where we will move into a self-funded business model. Our primary sources of income will be the bowling lanes. In Phase Two we will meet the following objectives:

• Confirm costs ($150k for 4-bowling lanes installed)
• Additional Insurance
• Confirm building (same or different?)
• Secure electrical supply
• Marketing
• Installation
• Website/App update
• Move-in
• Hire/Train personnel
• Grand Re-opening

To begin Phase Two, we will need to raise approximately $165,000. This will pay for electrical setup, lane and equipment purchase, lane installation and 
 additional insurance. If a different building is needed, we will need to raise 
 an approximate additional $5,000 for the first year. We will need to recruit at least 2 more volunteers to help with lane management and supervision. Ideally, these would be responsible teens who 
 catch the vision of 'owning' their teen center. We'd love to be entering Phase Two in March of 2023 Phase Three is where it all comes together. The bowling center will be up and running providing a consistent source of income. The teen mentorship sponsors will be experiencing returns through reports and the number of sponsors and other donors will be increasing. In Phase Three we will meet the following objectives:

• Identify and hire a Jobs Mentoring Director
• Identify and address equal-opportunity challenges for various socio-economic groups.
• Work closely with West Central Mountains Economic Development Council
• Develop an application process for employers, teens, and mentors.
• Host employer information nights
• Update website to reflect active program
• Identify local mentors (business, hospital, trades, etc) to volunteer for mentoring teens in their group.

Beyond completing Phases 1 and 2, to begin Phase Three, we will need to have reached a working capital of approximately $6,500 a month. To ensure stability and longevity throughout the program, we should have approximately $39,000 on hand before we launch the program. We'd love to be entering Phase Three in March of 2024.