This Is Us.
Flint & Steel is a not-for-profit, community-led organization aiming to advance educational, recreational, and artistic opportunities for people of all ages in the Mineola Texas area, but especially for our youth and young adults. What began in 2020 as an idea to improve facilities at a Mineola skatepark has become a wide-ranging project to give Mineola residents new opportunities to express themselves and help others.
Our leadership team includes local pastors, educators, young adults and, community advocates all hoping to foster growth within Mineola’s youth.
Youth Enterprise Zones
In 2020 on a back porch in West Mineola, the concept began with a goal: moving every kid at least one rung higher up the ladder from where they started. That mentality has grown into a movement of youth empowerment.
A Youth Enterprise Zone (YEZ) is an integrated network of community facilities, programs, support systems, and other resources focused on providing engaging experiences that encourage youth to develop positive life skills and a balanced lifestyle based on six dimensions of wellness (physical, emotional, social, intellectual, spiritual, and occupational). YEZ resources can be located in close physical proximity to each other (such as on the same city block) or they can be located at some distance from each other. YEZ resources are generally the composite resources of multiple entities. The key qualifier of a YEZ asset is that the organization’s facility, program, support system or other resource is focused on helping youth develop a balanced lifestyle and positive life skills AND is functioning as part of an integrated network of other community resources to achieve the goal of the YEZ.