About Us

Welcome to Generation X-cel, a holistic youth outreach program based in the Jacob Riis Houses in Manhattan's Lower East Side.

Founded in 1996 by 13 local teens and staffed primarily by volunteers, X-cel now serves hundreds of children a year through after school education, summer programs, community outreach efforts, and more.

X-cel's "by youth for youth" strategy - empower young people to create hope for their peers by providing viable alternatives to the streets - has been featured on local and national media and has been praised by community leaders, parents, and public officials as varied as Mayor Giuliani and Rep. Nydia Velazquez (D-NY).

The Mission

Generation X-cel exists to:

• empower inner city young people to create and pursue hopeful alternatives to mediocrity, poverty, and delinquency and
  
  
• enable youth to develop and realize ambitions and dreams.
  

The Method

Outreach

Recruit kids when they're outside, where they hang out. Offer activities that they enjoy. "Chill" at public parks and pools, and coordinate athletics, talent shows and block parties.

Follow-up

Lasting change and genuine hope come from relationships. Build relationships with kids through follow-up activities such as mentoring, peer counseling, after-school programs, summer day camps, and community service projects.

Relevance

Keep it real. Staff must be willing to love the unlovely, embrace the rejected, and relate to everyday kids with everyday problems and pleasures.

The Strategy

By Youth...

Challenge local young people to think constructively about neighborhood problems and creatively about solutions

For Youth...

Then provide a vehicle for the kids to implement the solutions that they devise.