Historical Timeline

1974

 Youth In Need is incorporated as a nonprofit organization.

The Jaycees renovate and donate Youth In Need’s first Emergency Shelter on Benton Street in St. Charles, Mo.

Sue Schneider joins Youth In Need as the agency’s first Executive Director and only employee.

 1978

 Youth In Need’s Emergency Shelter moves to 529 Jefferson Street.

1982

 Youth In Need adds educational component in the basement of the Emergency Shelter; the program later is named ExCEL.

 1984

 Youth In Need opens Cornerstone Group Home.

1986

 Liza Andrew-Miller becomes the agency’s second Executive Director.

 1987

 Youth In Need holds its first Celebration of Youth dinner and auction, raising $35,000.

 1988

 Jim Braun joins Youth In Need as the agency’s third Executive Director.

1990

 Youth In Need expands its counseling services with the addition of an office at 516 Jefferson Street. The building later is named the Burkemper Family Counseling Center in honor of the the Burkemper family.

1992

 Youth In Need begins its Transitional Living Program.

 1993

 Youth In Need assists in flood relief efforts.

The agency begins its homeless Street Outreach services.

1994

 Youth In Need celebrates its 20th anniversary.

The agency employs 45 staff and has an operating budget of $1.7 million.

1997

 Youth In Need establishes Youth Works program for high school droupouts.

Youth In Need begins its first after-school mentoring programs in St. Louis City.

1998

 Youth In Need’s Emergency Shelter is completely renovated after a devastating electrical fire.

Youth In Need receives Head Start and Early Head Start federal grants for
St. Charles, Lincoln, Warren and Montgomery Counties, expanding the agency’s staff to 164 and the operating budget to $6.2 million.

2001

 Youth In Need celebrates its 25th anniversary.

The agency begins Head Start services in St. Louis City.

 2004

 Youth In Need becomes a major provider of before- and after-school programming for the St. Louis City Public Schools with its Out-of-School Time Program.

Youth In Need employs 350 employees and has an operating budget of $11 million.

It’s also the agency’s 30th anniversary.

2005

 Youth In Need moves into its new central office in St. Charles. It’s the first time the agency has a “headquarters.”

The agency adds a foster care case management program, Children’s Permanency Partnership, to its portfolio of services.

 2006

 National Safe Place in Kentucky selects Youth In Need to be a regional provider of Project Safe Place.

 2007

 The Ladue News names Youth In Need as a Charity of the Year.

For the first time in the agency’s history, Youth In Need raises more than
$1 million in support of its Annual Fund.

Youth In Need breaks ground on its Monsanto Fund Science Discovery Garden, which goes on to win a national award for one of the best children’s gardens in the country.

2010

 Future Leaders-Youth In Need, the agency’s young professionals group, forms.

Youth In Need adds an animal assisted therapy dog to its Wentzville Head Start and Early Head Start Center, marking the first time in the country that such a therapy dog worked with an entire early childhood classroom.

Youth In Need begins a collaboration to provide the St. Louis County Youth Connection Helpline, the first of its kind in the country.

Youth In Need ends its Youth Works program.

 2012

 Jim Braun retires as President and CEO after nearly 25 years of service to Youth In Need.

The Out-of-School Time program ends.

2013

 After Jim Braun’s retirement, Pat Holterman-Hommes becomes President and CEO and the agency’s fourth leader since its incorporation in 1974.

Youth In Need is named one of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch‘s Top Workplaces based on its very own staff survey results.

 2014

 Youth In Need celebrates its 40th anniversary.

Youth In Need is named one of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch‘s Top Workplaces for the second consecutive year.

The Head Start and Early Head Start program expands with the creation of its Child Care Partnership program, collaborating with other early childhood education centers to provide Head Start and Early Head Start programming.

2015

 Youth In Need purchases the Stella Maris Early Childhood Center, which is renamed Academy Neighborhood School.

Youth In Need purchases its new Transitional Living Program Group home in St. Charles. The home offers residents 3,500 square feet of living space.

2016

 Youth In Need becomes the new meeting space for the St. Charles chapter of PFLAG.

Youth In Need adds three new infant/toddler classrooms to its Meramec Center. The classrooms serves 24 infants and toddlers and is the first time Early Head Start services have been offered at this location since its opening in 2002.

2017

 Youth In Need’s 20th annual McCarthy Holdings, Inc., Golfing for Youth Benefit Tournament, presented by Centene Charitable Foundation, sets a tournament record. More than 300 golfers played across three courses and raised more than $160,000 for Youth In Need.

2018

 The Street Outreach Program moves to a new location in Maplewood, allowing for additional collaboration within the runaway and homeless youth programs.

In an ongoing effort to focus on equity and inclusion and to move toward eliminating systemic racism, Youth In Need hires a dedicated staff person to oversee the agencies anti-bias anti-racism strategies.

Employees from Lowe’s stores across seven states spend 1,200 collective hours volunteering their improvement skills at three Youth In Need facilities, as well as the Crisis Nursery and a local domestic violence shelter. The volunteer project totals more than $500,000 in facility improvements for the three organizations.

Youth In Need purchases an eight-unit apartment building in St. John for its Supported Apartments Program.

2019

 Youth In Need is named one of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch‘s Top Workplaces for the seventh consecutive year.

Youth In Need’s 32nd annual Celebration of Youth names Emerson as its first-ever corporate honoree along with Board member Jon Lottes and his wife Cara.

2020

 The global pandemic, COVID-19, forces a shutdown of many of Youth In Need’s in-person services. The runaway and homeless youth programs and foster care program continue to provide face-to-face services, while counseling and early learning programs transition to a virtual service model in order to stay connected to clients.