Launched in September, the website – called “Where I Can Homer” compiles local events specifically targeted toward youth. The project began in 2022 with a team of high school students exploring how to simplify finding things to do after school. It was funded by the Kenai Peninsula Youth Court and the Southern Kenai Peninsula Resilience Coalition, and local high schoolers designed and developed the site.
Ashe Dias has been involved since the beginning when the original team came up with the idea of a centralized site for teens in 2022.
"Just looking at different websites from around town, around the state, looking at their directories and seeing how they worked and then helped it progress into thinking of a website and then designing it and creating it," Dias said.
Young adults working on the project gather event listings from different online sources and accept public submissions. A website coordinator called a “youth connector” then creates and categorizes the listings by age range, cost, activity type, and more.
Youth connector Poppy Smith said she hopes the site becomes the go-to resource for other young people
"I would definitely want us to be considered the default, for finding out information about upcoming events, especially for teenagers and youth,” Smith said.
The team plans to add resources for young people needing assistance with food, shelter, jobs, or counseling. They hope "Where Can I Homer" becomes the go-to place for teens to find out what's happening in the area. Anyone can check out the site by visiting wherecanihomer.org.
