Idealist,

Congratulations, and thank you, for your commitment to young people and in deciding to become a Social Worker. I have also worked in the youth development field for many years (started as a H.S. teacher). I'm not sure that your idea can be a viable for-profit business. After all your "competition" will be places like the Boys & Girls Club, locally funded community centers, etc, which are able to build facilities, and offer programming through grants and in-kind donations. Thus, offering free or low-cost services to your intended "customers."

There is a limited amount of funding for this type of non-profit work and if there is an already established center in your community you will have an uphill battle trying to get your's funded. If there isn't one in your community, have you considered reaching out to a large national organization for help in getting one started (Boys & Girls Club, United Way, Salvation Army)? They are really good at what they do and working with them may give you some key advantages that you won?t have by doing it alone.

Some other ideas:
Use your education and experience to design programming (workshops, curricula, etc) that you could offer to established youth centers as a consultant (Money Management Skills for Youth, Life Skills for Youth, Coping With Violence, etc.)? This way your deep pocketed "competition" will instead be your partners and clients.

Start a for-profit Gym/Health Club just for teens instead of another youth center? There is a running article in Inc Magazine about a young woman who is doing just that in California. I think that it reaches your aim of providing "something to do" and allows for some of the activities that you mentioned (basketball, dance classes). The time is also right for it, as folks are becoming more aware of the health problems youth are facing.

Finally, whichever route you decide to pursue, nothing says that you can't do both. Sort of... These days Government/Private partnerships are all the rage. Your business would be helping your local government address key community concerns, by offering alternatives to violence and obesity. If well positioned, I don't think you will have a hard time getting noticed. I can envision a plan through which you offer discounted memberships to underprivileged youth. These being subsidized through government and foundation grants.

Again, thank you for your commitment and good luck.

Jose