The TLC Center in Elizabethton, Tennessee, is setting its sights on expanding opportunities for teenagers in Carter County by acquiring property located just behind its current facility.

This community hub provides vital resources to local families, including essentials like food, clothing, and counseling services.

Although the center currently offers toys and activities aimed at younger children, founder and director Angie Odom recognized a gap in services tailored specifically for teenagers—a gap she is eager to fill.

Odom envisions providing resources she wishes were available during her own teenage years.

“We had our church group, but there wasn’t a dedicated place for us to gather,” she reflected. “In hindsight, having a space where you could talk to someone and participate in activities would have been invaluable, especially when life felt uncertain.”

Odom is hoping to purchase property directly behind the TLC center.

The property includes an 8,000-square-foot building she would rework into a safe space for teenagers to hang out.

Odom said what exactly will be featured in the teen center isn’t set in stone, but some ideas include arcade games, books and even a mini golf course. She’d also like to add blacktop to the property to create sports courts.

Odom added that she’d like to provide classes on basic life skills that teenagers may not learn in school.

“I hear the same things, and that is when we’re out volunteering, ”how do I do this?’ or ‘how do I do that?’” she said. “I realize how some of the basic life skills have slipped away, because we do have amazing technology now, but almost everything has gone to gaming technology, our phones, our computers, but they don’t know how to do some of our basic skills.”

The property costs about $230k, a sum Odom is hoping to raise through donations.

Mythea Manning, a teenager at the TLC Center, said teens often get a bad rap for causing trouble, but they aren’t offered a designated space to hang out and chat. A space at the TLC Center would fix that issue.

“I feel like a lot of people get on teenagers about going places and disrupting the area, but they don’t give us any other area to hang out,” she said. “If we had a place to hang out, then that would solve the issue.”

You can donate to the TLC Center here.