The Manchester Youth Development Center (MYDC) was founded as a recreational facility and alternative to street life for local community youth. MYDC officially incorporated in 1975 with a school-based curriculum in an after school setting for children 9 to 13 years of age.

MYDC shares facilities with the charter school, in a mutually beneficial relationship that provides savings in maintenance and operations, services such as fiscal monitoring and other overhead costs. MYDC is a nonprofit organization and a local economic resource for the Manchester community, with over 60% of its employees residing in the North Side neighborhoods of Pittsburgh and 50% of its employees residing within a 3 block radius of the Center itself. Twenty two percent of staff members are former MYDC students and nearly 50% are parents of present and former students.

MYDC seeks to replace negative behaviors with positive goals, through mobilizing families from the community to participate in the development of the youth. The Center recognizes that being problem-free is not the same as being fully prepared and thus focuses on the development of the whole child to become productive and engaged citizens.