Our current programs are
The Youth Empowerment Strategies Program
and
The YES! Community Technology Center
to find out more click the link below
www.yestechmentoring.org

The YES! Community Technology Center is Open
   A SOCK sponsored program, The YES! (Youth Empowerment Strategies) Community Technology Center is up and running, available to Mason County youth 12 years and older  adults, families, service agencies and businesses providing community access to computers for education,  home work clubs,GED preparation,  testing, job search, job training, resume building, workshops and more.

We offer workshops in basic computer literacy, how to navigate Work Source, on line banking, Web Site Development, Windows Office Suite, Quick Books and PhotoShop. This Technology Center is open for youth, senior citizens and everyone in between so let us know what will work best for you and we will design our programs around your needs.

The Emancipation Station
a Conversation Cafe

A self-service cafe has opened adjacent to the YES!Community Technology Center.  A donation based, relaxed cafe setting with board games, coffee, tea & sandwich fixings, the conversation cafe is open to YES! clientèle.

Meet with friends, mentors and tutors, relax before or after a computing session or just get out of the weather. Come on by!

Our Mission Statement

The SOCK Youth Program's motto is “helping kids believe in themselves, and helping our community believe in them." This is accomplished through free after school, evening and summer programs for kids, involving mentoring, education, arts, community involvement, employment, nutrition, recreation, and help for youth in crisis.

Our History

Save Our County’s Kids (SOCK) was founded in 1997 to prevent youth violence, re-direct juvenile energy and provide alternatives to gang membership and involvement. For the past nine years, SOCK has provided evening recreational activities, structured after-school educational programs, free nutritious meals, transportation, emergency help and employment opportunities for Mason County’s most at-risk youth in its 12,000 square foot community center.

In 2002, SOCK was awarded federal juvenile justice funds to expand its prevention programs and to employ the Search Institutes 40-Asset Resiliency Model.
In 2005, SOCK was awarded federal Department of Education funding, through the Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools, to implement a mentoring program for youth in the 4th-8th grades.

SOCK is a locally driven approach to youth violence prevention that targets Mason County’s most at risk children. Nine years ago, in 1997, the Shelton community was galvanized into action by the murder of a teenager. As a response—after a series of parental and community meetings focused on crime, gangs and the need for activities for youth—a large community group:
     (1) did an all-day county-wide graffiti paint out;
     (2) decided to continue efforts by opening a youth center called SOCK   
(Save Our County’s Kids);and
     (3) partnered with the National Guard to house the youth center in the old Shelton Armory.

When the Guard Unit housed there was dissolved in February 1999, SOCK became the sole tenant in the Armory and signed a long-term lease for use of the building.

Since opening over ten years ago, SOCK has recorded 4,604 individual youth who have participated in SOCK activities.

In 2007, SOCK volunteers contributed 5,154 (number still being updated) hours to keep the doors to SOCK open so that 1018 youth could participate in the fun, free activities provided at SOCK. Approximately 90-125 youth attend SOCK’s after school and evening recreation programs each week.