the 941

The following will appear in tomorrow’s edition of CL.

By Joel Rozen.

With the online world of social networking and virtual gaming growing bigger by the day, parents now yearn for an excuse to get their kids out of the computer room and into the real world of exercise and sunshine and making out.
In Sarasota, however, there may now be a chance to meet them halfway.
Last week, county outreach initiative Community Youth Development (CYD) unveiled TheLookUp941.org, a website aimed at providing youngsters with something to do beyond hanging out at the Hollywood 20.
“You can think of it as looking through their eyes to recognize what a positive activity might be,” says CYD director Karen Bogues.
In this case, the positive activity may entail just browsing through the selection. An engaging neon-green and blue interface holds links as well as a sortable database of over 500 county locations, age-appropriate categories and events like Tai Chi classes and Mote Marine adventures. Ultimately, Bogues says, the search engine gives parents a taste of the numerous “out-of-school time” options — and the cyber-obsessed a sense of what they’re missing.
“We knew that was the prime way young people work,” she says. “So we needed something that would be accessible.”
For two years, the former college basketball coach searched for MySpace alternatives — an endeavor that soon proved difficult without some tween input. Contracting 10 high school students last year to collect data online and scout for activities (one offered spelunking, says Bogues, “which would be great if we had caves”), CYD was amazed with the outcome.
“They put things in the database we never would have considered,” she says. “And then they went out and did them.”
While Bogues concedes that the project may still attract more parents than kids at this point, she hopes the future will bring expansion, perhaps through new media, for the younger crowd.
Get your cell phones ready.
“Have you ever heard of 211?” she asks, referencing the dial-up listings guide used by adults to track down babysitters and locate nursing homes. “We’re meeting about that next week.”

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