“Kids, do you have all your materials ready? Let’s start the lesson!” Recently, at the Jianhe Teaching Point, a branch of the Hangzhou Youth Activity Center’s Community Youth Center, Ms. Ma from the Art Department kicked off a brand-new art course for summer students.

During the summer break, to provide children with access to quality educational resources close to home, the Jianhe Community of Pengbu Street in Shangcheng District has continuously collaborated with the Preschool Education, Art, and Literature Departments of the Hangzhou Youth Activity Center. A total of 70 interest-based courses have been offered for the community’s youth across the summer and autumn terms. Recently, 24 summer courses, including Literature and Creative Science and Children’s Art by the Literature and Art Departments, as well as 11 summer courses like Language Development by the Preschool Education Department, have officially started. In total, 466 students have registered for the summer programs at the Jianhe Teaching Point.

Jianhe Community consists of four private residential complexes and one public rental housing complex, surrounded by three supporting schools: a kindergarten, a primary school, and a middle school. The area is home to over 2,000 young students.

To enhance cultural and recreational activities for the elderly and youth groups and strengthen neighborly interactions, Jianhe Community conducted three rounds of resident surveys to assess the needs of the Happy Neighborhood Center and the ongoing service demands of residents at all levels.

“It was through these online and offline surveys that we learned about the high demand for extracurricular activities among the youth,” explained Xia Lili, Secretary of the Jianhe Community Party Branch. “This led us to collaborate with the authoritative Hangzhou Youth Activity Center, starting with their Preschool Education Department, to establish a ‘Community Youth Center at Your Doorstep.’”

Over the next six months, through extensive coordination, on-site assessments, material procurement, curriculum development, offline enrollment, and the official launch of classes, the partnership between the Youth Center and the community brought tangible benefits to the residents right in their neighborhood.

In addition to introducing the Preschool Education Department, Jianhe Community also brought in the Art and Literature Departments to cater to older youth. “As pilot programs in the city, the Art and Literature Departments began offering classes at the Jianhe Teaching Point, not only providing top-tier teachers from the center but also, given the community setting, implementing a small-class size model for the first time, which has proven to be particularly effective,” said a representative from the Hangzhou Youth Activity Center.

As a result, the offline enrollment process naturally attracted significant interest from youth and their parents. “To provide more community-based benefits for local children, the Jianhe Teaching Point opened offline registration for the spring and summer-autumn terms twice a year, ahead of the city-wide online lottery registration. To date, nearly a thousand students have enrolled across the spring, summer, and autumn terms,” noted Xia Lili.

“Having a Youth Center right in our neighborhood is such a blessing! There are so many courses to choose from, the teachers are excellent, early registration is guaranteed, and the quality of teaching is outstanding. Plus, it’s really convenient for parents to drop off and pick up the kids—it truly makes us happy!” said Ms. Chen, a parent.