§ SCHOOLS · 2 MIN READ
A Free Tech Camp, and Nobody Told You
The city ran a free technology camp at the Dollarhide Center for 16 to 24 year olds. The Chamber is launching a calendar so families stop finding out after the fact. Here is how to stop missing these.
By Culture
THE SHORT VERSION
The City of Compton has run a free Youth Tech Training Camp at the Dollarhide Community Center, 301 N. Tamarind Avenue, for young people aged 16 to 24, with parental consent required under 18. The Compton Chamber of Commerce is launching a Youth Opportunity Calendar in fall 2026 to collect local programs, scholarships and camps in one place.
Here is the pattern that costs this city more than any budget line. A free program runs, it is genuinely good, it has open seats, and the families who needed it most hear about it three weeks after it ended.
The City of Compton has held a Youth Tech Training Camp at the Dollarhide Community Center, 301 N. Tamarind Avenue, for young people aged 16 to 24. Parental consent is required for anybody under 18. The city has described Compton Tech Week as a spring break technology camp focused on empowering young people through innovation, collaboration and hands-on learning.
Free. In the neighborhood. For exactly the age group that gets the least programming, because most youth services stop at 18 and most job training starts at 25.
The Compton Chamber of Commerce is launching a Compton Youth Opportunity Calendar in fall 2026, built to put local programs, events, scholarships and camps in one place so families can actually find them.
That is a small piece of infrastructure and it is the right one. The problem was never supply. It was that the information lived in six different places and none of them was where parents look.
“The seats were there. The announcement was the thing that was missing.”
City Year Los Angeles AmeriCorps members work with students in Compton Unified alongside other districts, which means there are additional adults in those schools whose actual job is student support. Ask whether your child's school has them and what they do, because families rarely know.
This is the gap that swallows people. If school is finished or paused and work has not started, the doors that exist are: the city's tech camp, free GED and exam prep, and a paid apprenticeship that starts earning immediately. All three are free, all three are local, and all three are undersubscribed.
The programs are not the hard part. Hearing in time is the hard part.
- Does Compton have a free tech camp for young people?
- Yes. The City of Compton has run a free Youth Tech Training Camp at the Dollarhide Community Center, 301 N. Tamarind Avenue, for people aged 16 to 24. Parental consent is required for anybody under 18.
- How do I find youth programs in Compton?
- The Compton Chamber of Commerce is launching a Youth Opportunity Calendar in fall 2026 to collect programs, events, scholarships and camps in one place. Until then, ask the Dollarhide Community Center and school counselors directly, since staff know about programs before they are advertised.
- What is there for 18 to 24 year olds who are not in school?
- That age range is the gap in most systems, because youth services often stop at 18 and job training starts later. The city's tech camp covers 16 to 24, and free GED and exam prep and paid apprenticeships are both local and generally undersubscribed.
- What is City Year in Compton schools?
- City Year Los Angeles AmeriCorps members work with students in Compton Unified and other districts, providing additional adults in schools whose role is student support. Families often do not know they are there, so it is worth asking the school directly.
