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KEOKUK, IOWA -- With the movie theater in River City Mall now closed, there's not much for Keokuk teenagers to do outside of school.

And for an area with the highest unemployment in the state, getting teens on the right track has never been more important.

KHQA's Jarod Wells shows you how a popular teen hangout called Common Grounds is trying to brighten the future of the kids that enter, so they can brighten the future of Keokuk as they exit.

Matt Hunt said, "One of the real deficits we see is that kids just don't have the work ethic that you need to be successful in the work place. And to address the root causes of poverty in a town where we are getting poorer and poorer, we really need to help kids get a step up."

Matt Hunt has been working part time with Common Grounds and full time as an Associate Pastor with Keokuk's First Christian Church. Come January 1st he will be resigning from the church and start working full time as the Director of Common Grounds. He says it will be adding two outreach programs that will address the root causes of poverty.

Matt Hunt said, "The first is, we've got kids that come to us and say we're flunking out of school and we don't know what to do about it. We've been fortunate enough to talk to the Keokuk School District and they put together an advisory team that we're going to be working hand in hand with so that we can have a successful after school homework help program."

Matt Hunt hopes 100 students will be enrolled in the homework program by next fall. The other outreach program will be helping kids build work ethic.

Hunt said, "It's great to give them a hand out, but instead of just giving kids a hand out and helping, we're actually going to help them have the kind of work ethic that a person needs to be successful in life."

The goal is to give area youth a place to go to hang out and have fun with their friends, that's covered by the pool tables, XBoxs, Playstations and Karaoke stage, but also give them the tools to help reduce poverty in Keokuk and make it a better community for all.

Common Grounds is completely funded by donations and is a not-for-profit organization.

All of the games and equipment come from churches, businesses and community members.

If you would like to donate you can call 319-524-5266 or visit www.commongroundskeokuk.org