The Kihei Youth Center is a community-based non-profit organization established in 1983 to help address the critical need for positive, healthy supervised activities and programs for the youth of Kihei, Maui.  Over the last 26 years, as the community has grown from a quiet little South Maui town to the island’s fastest growing resort/residential population center, the Kihei Youth Center has expanded from a small recreational drop-in program to an established community hub that provides a comprehensive range of structured recreational activities, educational programs, cultural enrichment/appreciation programs, leadership development projects and family-oriented community events. The Kihei Youth Center currently serves as many as 500 youth per year between the ages of 8 and 17 years old.

The KYC MERITS Program expands on an informal, after-school homework assistance program that was initiated in response to requests from several youth members and parents.  The initial program involved enlisting volunteer mentors from the community to be available at the Youth Center on a semi-regular basis to assist individual youth members in completing their daily homework assignments.  As this program evolved, it became apparent that