NORWOOD — Teens sail through the air — twisting, turning, taking risks — all to showcase their skills.

        Skateboarding can make a parent cringe. But the sport has also kept a group of Norwood kids off the streets this summer and allowed them to legally do what they love.

Steve Lowenstein, 15, goes airborne in front of Vineyard Church. (Gary Landers photo) | ZOOM |

        It's part of the Safe Haven for Teens summer program run by a Cincinnati Bible Seminary student whose mission is to give these teens, grades 6-12, a place to go where people care for them.

        “The other day, one of them came to me and asked if I would play cards with just him and if we could play together forever,” said Elizabeth Lueking, the student and program director. “That's a good example of what the teens are looking for from us. They want a place where they know they are important and that they matter.”

        The nonprofit organization wants to expand with an after-school program this fall, but it needs funding and a home. A skate competition will be held Wednesday to raise funds.

        After-school programs are crucial because youths are at greater risk of being involved in crime, substance abuse and or pregnancy in the hours after school, particularly 3-4 p.m., according to the National Center for Juvenile Justice. It's estimated that at least 7 million — and up to 15 million — latchkey children return to an empty house on any given afternoon.

IF YOU GO

Safe Haven For Teens will sponsor a skateboard competition 3-5 p.m. Wednesday at the corner of Mills and Carter in Norwood.     Safe Haven is looking for businesses and individuals to sponsor skaters to raise money for an after-school program.     Call 919-7675 or e-mail safehavenforteens@yahoo.com

        Safe Haven for Teens was created when teens from Norwood Educational Opportunity Center (NEOC), the school district's alternative middle school program, started showing up mornings last fall for hot chocolate at Elizabeth's Cafi.

        The Community House, affiliated with Vineyard Community Central Church in Norwood, operated the cafi across the street to support its ministries.

        Ms. Lueking, 44, was helping with the cafi at the time. When teens started coming, she raised money to establish a free breakfast program for them. The teens started arriving at 6:30 a.m. daily, even though school didn't start until 8:50 a.m.

        Some of them, she said, are encouraged by their parents to drop out of school and get their GED instead of a high school diploma. Others come from families with no high school graduates. The students want help in breaking that cycle.

        When school ended this year, the kids who came to Elizabeth's Cafi talked about where they could meet. The summer program started reaching a different group of teens through skateboarding.

        Vineyard allows the teens to skateboard on the sidewalk outside the church noon-5 p.m. weekdays. About 20 teens show up each day to skate on the ramps they built themselves.

        “They treat you with respect here,” said Stevie Lowenstein, a 15-year-old sophomore at Norwood High School. “Any other place you go, they start screaming at you.”

        The dynamics of Safe Haven will change this fall because NEOC students will return to traditional classrooms. The school, which existed four years, served students who were retained twice and still hadn't passed eighth grade. The number of students who needed the program dropped significantly, so they were integrated back into classrooms, said Don Rahe, former director of the NEOC school and now assistant principal of Norwood High School.

        Safe Haven enjoyed a good relationship with NEOC, which was less than a block from the cafi. “The school looks favorably on any program that helps support Norwood kids,” Mr. Rahe said.

        The Norwood Learning Center, the district's after-school program, has asked Safe Haven to bring the breakfast program into the high school so the former NEOC students have a safe place to gather before school and continue to get tutoring.

        Ms. Lueking has always felt her calling was in teen ministry. Long term, she wants a building where Norwood teens can learn and get help with drug and alcohol recovery, as well as pregnancy issues — not to mention skateboarding.

After snubbing Cincinnati, Cosby coming to Oxford
Some won't give up on Sabin plans
Downtown businesses watch plans come, go
Downtown retail projects slowed by drab economy
Food, crafts show scheduled in Reading
Jim Coomer lived the life of a riverman
Judge sentences Waagner to 20 more years for gun, car thefts
Second home for teens
Supporters of Israel rally in Blue Ash
Tristate A.M. Report
Two-week vacation ends for convict
Wrecks snarl traffic on I-71
You've read 'Seabiscuit'; now you can be in the movie
BRONSON: Defending Iraq Why the media get no respect
HOWARD: Some Good News
SMITH AMOS: Policing the police
WELLS: Convention center
Edgewood, Cinergy OK tax amount
Neighbors raise stink over smell
Ross schools reduce levy request on Nov. ballot
Scholarships for the stage
Terminal, not airport, named for Hogans
Bad wigs abound at ballpark
Ohio considers Amber alerts
Ohio may have 3rd West Nile case
Ohio revokes liquor license of Uncle Milt's bar in Avondale
Suspect in 4 murders had troubled, not violent, past
Bridge troubles Walton
Customers would - and do - travel 500 miles for this sale
Kentucky Political Notes
'O Brother' artists to play Clooney festival
Trucker sought after woman reports attack