For families struggling through divorce, parents working to repair the relationship in a supervised setting, or children in need of mentoring, a Johnson County agency has stepped forward to help.
Through October, Youth Connections reconnected 47 families this year through supervised visitation. Through the agency’s Safe Place hotline, 75 young people and families in crisis were given emergency assistance. More than 370 families learned how to navigate divorce in a healthy way.
But in the midst of the organization’s success, leaders felt a greater impact could be made. That belief led to some major changes in the organization.
With a shift in leadership and an expanded slate of programs, Youth Connections is hoping to better assist all kinds of families while also creating new and strengthened relationships with donors throughout the community.
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The new executive director will be Shana Gilbert, who has worked at Youth Connections for four years and is excited about taking the agency in new directions.
Former executive director Judy Olds is stepping into a new role as community relations director, a role aimed at spreading the message of what Youth Connections does and building bonds with people throughout Johnson County.
"We’re excited about this. We really feel like this is the most forward-thinking thing that we’ve done at Youth Connections in quite some time," Olds said. "Agencies get stale. And we want everyone to know that Youth Connections is the premier agency working with youth and their families."
Youth Connections is a unique entity in Johnson County in helping at-risk youth and families in crisis. The organization does not solicit clients to use their services; rather, the people who need Youth Connections come entirely by referrals from places such as the court system, schools, attorneys and the Indiana Department of Child Services.
The agency’s value is being a constant source of support for the varying needs that kids and parents have.
Youth Connections was founded in 1976, first as a shelter for at-risk children and teens, then slowly transitioned to a multi-program organization entrusted with the well-being of youth in all areas of the community, as well as in Brown and Morgan counties.
Services include working with parents on court-ordered custody evaluation, helping families navigate divorce through its Families in Transition program and providing mentoring to elementary, intermediate and middle school students. The children’s visitation center provides a place for parents who have lost custody but are working to still be in their children’s lives to sit down, play video games or board games and repair the damage that’s been done to their relationships.
Safe Place and Host Home focuses on homeless youth and runaways. Other programs raise awareness about human trafficking in the community.
But Olds, and the organization’s board of directors, felt the group needed to do more to make the community — and potential donors — aware of what they do.
"The type of donors out there have changed very quickly," Olds said. "When I’d go out to speak, I’d start every presentation with, ‘How many of you have heard of Youth Connections?’ Sometimes, I’d get one or two hands. Sometimes, I’d get nothing. After 43 years, we must be missing the boat on something in regards (to) getting the word out."
The executive director role allowed Olds to go out and engage civic groups and other organizations about their mission. But the job also required a significant amount of time dedicated to paperwork and bureaucracy necessary to the work they do.
A solution was proposed: What if Olds focused on reaching out to the community, while someone else took over that detailed work as executive director.
"I realized I had somebody on staff who was really good at that kind of work, who enjoyed the paperwork and designing aspects and doing new programs on the computer," Olds said. "The switchover could freshen the agency, so to speak."
Gilbert and Olds brought their idea to the board of directors earlier this fall, and it was approved.
With the leadership shift comes a new look.
Previously, most of the programs Youth Connections offered served young people ages 7 to 17; the Families in Transition program is offered from ages 8 to 18.
But officials at the agency want to expand that.
"We don’t want to just affect the youth, we want to affect the whole family," Gilbert said.
The organization will now be offering mentoring for both youth and adults. A resource wall in the agency’s office will provide a roadmap to connecting those in need with additional resources to help their families. Youth Connections staff will almost serve as a case manager for those resources, following up and ensuring that the whole family gets the help they need from those other agencies, Gilbert said.
"It’s another way to connect nonprofits throughout Johnson County," she said. "Sometimes you have nonprofits servicing the same client, but they don’t realize they’re doing that. If we can be that connection saying, ‘This person is getting help here, here, here…’ then we can really know what’s effective in our communities."
The Safe Place helpline will now be open to people of all ages who need help, where they can talk directly to someone at Youth Connections 24 hours a day.
"That’s really important. They can reach a live person from the staff 24/7. We’re the only agency, to the best of our knowledge, (that) offers that," Olds said.
Family-oriented events, such as the second-annual Johnson County Kids Got Talent on Feb. 7, are being planned for the coming year as well, Gilbert said.
By serving the entire family, Youth Connections leaders feel they’ll be able to attract more donors and supporters.
"With me going out to the community, I can talk to the church groups or whatever community group, to explain who we are and what we do. Sometimes, people think that (Youth Connections) is only for families who’ve had a child that’s on drugs or a family member who’s been in jail," Olds said. "That’s not the case, but people just don’t know."
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Youth Connections
What: An agency serving at-risk youth through crisis intervention, community education and mentoring in Johnson, Brown and Morgan counties
Programs
- Small-group afterschool mentoring program focusing on communicating effectively, making decisions, setting goals, respect, teamwork, citizenship, techniques for addressing bullying, and preparing for college and career.
- Host Homes: Volunteer families who act as emergency shelter for youth in crisis. Young people ages 7 to 17 can stay at the host home for up to 21 days, until they can be reunited with family or moved to permanent housing.
- Safe Place: A network of more than 100 sites that provide support and resources to youth dealing with a crisis. A Safe Place representative is available 24 hours each day.
- Custody evaluations: Court-mandated assessments that provide a neutral evaluation based on the best interest of the child.
- Supervised visitations: An on-site location for monitored visits between children and their noncustodial parent.
- Families in Transition: Classes for parents and their children, ages 8 to 16, that provide information on how to cope with divorce.
- Human trafficking awareness: Works with other agencies to provide advocacy, information and referral and community education.
Information: youthconnections.org or 317-738-3273.
Helpline: 866-738-5437. A resource staffed 24 hours a day, every day of the week by Youth Connections.
How to help: People can donate online at youthconnections.org
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