Youth minister seeks donations for teen-led co-op and café
Common Grounds provides safe gathering space for Taos youth
Though the building at 123 Cruz Alta Road, which once contained the Taos Clinic for Youth and Children, may appear nondescript and vacant, it is currently home to the humanitarian aspirations of youth minister Jill Cline and the teens she works with. On June 5, Cline received a $10,500 grant from the Taos Community Foundation to transform this building into the Common Grounds Youth Co-op and Café, a project which would serve some of the local area’s most underserved youth.
“The committee picked Common Grounds because they had a strong application in the youth category, and they were excited about what Common Grounds was doing,” said Helen Forte, director of community impact at the Taos Community Foundation. Common Grounds partners include Kit Carson Electric Co-op, Taos Academy and the St. James Episcopal Church.
Though the Common Grounds Youth Co-op and Café will be open to all youth, Cline is particularly interested in working with teenagers experiencing
homelessness.
“Employees within the Taos Municipal School District have identified 70 kids who qualify as homeless,” Cline said. While for many the word “homeless” conjures up images of cardboard shelters and sleeping bags beneath highway overpasses, Cline said that homelessness in the Taos area isn’t necessarily as visible, especially among teenagers.
“It can mean couch surfing, it can mean living in a car with parents, living in a garage in someone’s house or minors living in a transitional living space,” said Cline.
In addition to the café, Cline plans to have showers, lockers where homeless teens can store their possessions, a computer lab, a food pantry, a meditation room, an art studio and a private room where teens can meet individually with trained counselors. The undertaking will not be without significant expense; for these amenities, and to ensure that the building facilities are handicap-accessible and up to code, Cline aims to raise $80,000 total. Common Grounds participants will be holding a rummage sale and fundraiser Friday (June 28) and Saturday (June 29) at the location on 123 Cruz Alta Road; breakfast burritos and Frito pies will be sold as well.
Cline is emphatic that while she helps guide the group, Common Grounds is a youthled organization. Recently she gathered with some of the teens over pizza at the St. James’s Episcopal Church on a recent Tuesday night (June 25) to discuss issues of healing and reconciliation in the Taos community. They were unequivocal about the positive impact their involvement in Common Grounds had on their lives.
“I’m here because I just got out of treatment, and I’m trying to stay on the right path,” said one young man known as Shadow Charlie said before departing for his job on the night shift at Wendy’s.
“It sucks growing [up] and not having anyone,” said Angel Real of his involvement in Common Grounds.
“Yeah, especially when you don’t know about things likes this,” added Natasha Hillway.
“But we have this opportunity to help one another,” continued Real.
“And being here you realize that your home life, your past – they don’t define you,” finished Hillway.
Given the socioeconomic diversity of the Taos area and the high percentage of LGBTQ+ individuals among the youth she works with, inclusivity, for Cline, is important.
“We are ecumenical and secular, which means everyone is welcome,” Cline said.
She’s less concerned, however, with formality prevailing in the café and co-op themselves.
“I don’t care if they use four-letter words,” Cline said with a twinkle in her eyes. “Care is a four-letter word, too.”