Our impact

We provide support to teens spanning the entire abuse continuum and advocate for systemic change in the juvenile legal and child welfare systems. The broad scope of our work sets us up to have a lasting impact and empower kids throughout their journey to healing and success.

At youthSpark, we aim for a lasting, transformative impact.

Everything we do is geared toward creating positive life shifts for trauma-exposed youth. We strive to address all factors of their lives that could hinder their wellbeing so they can feel empowered to take command of their own lives.

Drop-in youth center

At our Center, we look outside of the individual to make positive shifts in their environment through engaging programs, a vast amount of available resources, and court and education advocacy.

Community advocacy

We’re always raising awareness and educating the community and change-makers on our learnings from our hands-on work at the Youth Services Center. These learnings allow us to advocate for legal change and to educate the community on how to take an early intervention approach.

Innovative research

We partner with other trusted organizations to perform innovative research that helps inform our evidence-based interventions and programs for vulnerable youth. These successful programs can be shared and replicated throughout the community.

In 2023

we served more than 180 vulnerable youth who walked through our doors

We provided

123

acts of crisis intervention

4432

individual support and counseling sessions

855

acts of interagency advocacy

729

acts of court advocacy

Resulting in

75%

of youth attending group therapy sessions each week and building meaningful relationships with staff

80%

of youth deciding not to runaway or reaching out before attempting to runaway

75%

of youth increasing school engagement

80%

of youth meeting their personal emotional and educational goals within 6 months
Download our impact report

Meet “Drew”

Stories of impact

After being physically abused by his stepfather, Drew was removed from his biological mother’s home and is currently being raised by his grandparents. A child's zip code should not determine supportive services.

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With limited understanding of his removal from his biological mother’s home and limited resources in place to assist Drew’s grandparents, he began to display verbal aggression and destroy property at his grandparents' home, which resulted in him being detained and placed on probation.

Drew was referred to youthSpark because of family in-home conflict due to his grandparents’ lack of understanding of his sexual orientation. Since being referred to youthSpark’s Expressions program, his grandparents have received gender-specific counseling and psychoeducation which has improved their relationship with Drew and ultimately led to more peace in their home.

Although his grandparents are still learning how to use supportive ally language, they are open to continue to learn about the LGBTQ community and how they can best support Drew. His behavior has also improved, as he is being respectful and using appropriate language at home. He has also enrolled in individual counseling and a GED program to continue and complete his education, and he is consistently participating in Expressions. Drew aspires to be a nurse, and recently passed the Social Studies and Science portions of the GED practice exam. As Drew and his family consistently participate in rendered services, they continue to experience positive family cohesion, and his grandparents have become more supportive and better allies.