NewsFeed | 4.17.23

youthinneed — Mon, 17 Apr 2023 16:45:34 +0000

In this issue: Academy School reopens; new ELP classrooms open in Francis Howell School District; job fair seeks program staff; and registration open for annual trivia night.

Early Learning Center Reopens as a Community School

Youth In Need’s Academy School celebrated its reopening earlier this month with a ribbon cutting and school tours. Closed for just over a year, Academy School reopened earlier this year after undergoing a facility-wide renovation.

Located in the Academy/Sherman Park neighborhood, Academy School provides high-quality early childhood education services as well as Head Start and Early Head Start programming at no cost to qualifying families so that children are prepared to enter kindergarten on par with their peers. Designed to be both an educational institution and a center of community life, Academy School will be developing a wide variety of supports to parents, guardians and families, including workforce readiness and employment support; access to essential needs such as food and clothing as well as healthcare and mental healthcare.

One such support is the Academy School Community Clinic, which operates on-site in partnership with iFM Community Medicine. Currently open to families of enrolled children and staff, the clinic will eventually be open to the community at large once licensing is complete. Academy School also has partnered with The St. Louis Association of Community Organizations and Neighborhood Watch while it works toward future plans to fill gaps in the community’s needs not met elsewhere.

YIN Opens New ELP Classrooms in Francis Howell School District

Youth In Need recently opened two new Early Learning Program classrooms in the Francis Howell School District, one at Central Elementary and one at Harvest Ridge Elementary. The new classrooms will serve 30 preschool students, ages 3 to 5, and have two bilingual teachers for the six dual language students currently enrolled.

“All of the three early childhood centers within the district are largely fee-based slots, which are unaffordable to a large population of families,” said Sarah Briddell, St. Charles County Operations Director for Youth In Need’s Early Learning Programs. “This led to many children entering kindergarten lacking the skills needed to be successful.”

There are plans to open one more classroom at Henderson Elementary once space allows for the expansion.

YIN to Hold Job Fair for Runaway and Homeless Youth Programs

Are you looking for a career that makes a difference? Supporting youth experiencing homelessness is critically important always, but especially now. We’re hiring for positions in our Street Outreach program, Transitional Living Program, Emergency Shelter and more. Learn more about joining our team of caring, mission-driven staff on Thursday, April 20, 2023, from noon to 4 p.m. at 1815 Boone’s Lick Road in St. Charles.

Youth In Need’s employees enjoy:

Amazing benefits
Generous paid time off
Strengths-based culture
Commitment to racial equity

Let us know if you’ll be there! Click here to RSVP.

Test Your Trivia Knowledge

Join Youth In Need’s Young Professionals Group for its annual Trivia Night, presented by Mia Rose Holdings, on Friday, May 12, at the Bridgeton Recreation Center! Doors open at 6 p.m., and trivia begins at 7 p.m.

Registration is $200 for tables of eight and includes soda, beer, wine and popcorn. Outside food and drinks are encouraged, just no glass, please. Event Sponsors ($500) and Round Sponsors ($150) are still needed, too. Your fun-filled evening includes 10 rounds of trivia, a silent auction, raffles and more!

The post NewsFeed | 4.17.23 appeared first on Youth In Need.

NewsFeed | 02.16.21

youthinneed — Wed, 10 Nov 2021 16:32:35 +0000

In this issue: Connectria and Harris Elementary students give gifts from the heart.

Connectria Donates $100,000 to Youth In Need

If there can be such a thing as perfect timing in a pandemic, this was it.

Connectria, in partnership with Bregal Sagemount, has made a $100,000 grant to Youth In Need as part of the Bregal Helps Initiative, a fund created to alleviate human crisis in cities where the company’s subsidiaries are located. Youth In Need will use the grant in its programs that help youth who are at-risk or experiencing homelessness.

Posing significant challenges across the board, the pandemic not only spurred an increased need for Youth In Need’s services, but it also created a sense of uncertainty about future funding.

“Our services just can’t be turned off because there’s a pandemic,” said Pat Holterman-Hommes, Youth In Need’s President and CEO. “During this time, we’ve seen a greater need for what we do, with some truly incredible staff keeping our services going during really challenging times. And in the beginning, we worried about what the pandemic would mean for the funding of those programs. Then came Connectria’s truly wonderful gift, something that will be key to helping us maintain our services to the children and youth who need us most.”

A Youth In Need Children’s Partner since 2014, Connectria vetted several nonprofit organizations in the St. Louis area before choosing to champion Youth In Need through the grant process. Rusty Putzler, Connectria’s Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, wrote the grant in conjunction with Youth In Need.

The grant will fund Youth In Need’s runaway and homeless youth programs, which are a continuum of services to help at-risk youth find safety and then success in school, work and life. Youth In Need engages thousands of at-risk youth and successfully helps more than 400 youth transition out of homelessness each year. Programs include emergency youth shelter, transitional youth housing, homeless street outreach and crisis response.

Harris Elementary Students Spearhead Exceptional Donation Drive

For a young group of friends, making a difference in their community begins where all great ideas happen: Recess! Victoria Ermeling, Keegan Foust, Arah Turner and Ava Haynes, fourth graders at Harris Elementary School in St. Charles, began talking about helping the homeless during a recess break in December. With the help of their counselor Susan Ballard, the students found Youth In Need and really liked the idea of helping other children in their community.

Over the course of the next month, Victoria, Keegan, Arah and Ava gave up their recesses to make posters and a video promoting their donation drive. They made their own morning announcements at school and arrived early and stayed late to sort and count the items they collected for Youth In Need. Initially, the students hoped to collect 900 items for Youth In Need, but when they delivered their donations earlier this month, they proudly reported they had collected 4,200 items of non-perishable food items and hygiene products!

From left: Keegan Foust, Victoria Ermeling and Arah Turner with just a portion of the 4,200 non-perishable food items and hygiene products they collected with classmate Ava Haynes for Youth In Need.

The post NewsFeed | 02.16.21 appeared first on Youth In Need.

Runaway and Homeless Youth Archives - Youth In Need