A Vision for Hope
Youth Crisis Center – The Safe Place

Our History
Since 1974, Youth Crisis Center has been an integral part of Jacksonville’s first responders for children and families in crisis.  YCC is the safety net for homeless and abandoned children on the streets and the emergency room for families in crisis.  YCC provides safe shelter for kids affected by domestic violence, and it is the only resource for the juvenile judges when they need to temporarily order kids out of their homes. 

YCC is the only shelter authorized to receive kids who have been locked out of their homes by their parents, and is authorized by the State to provide services to families in matters of truancy prior to court intervention.  Since 1974, thirty-six thousand young lives have been salvaged and placed on the right track for a promising future and sixteen thousand families have been reunited after crises had torn them apart.  YCC’s mission is to reunite families and give parents and youth hope for the future.

What About Those Other Youth-Service Agencies?
All other youth-serving agencies are resources to which YCC can refer youths and families for ancillary services.  YCC has more than 40 working agreements with these agencies to clarify roles and avoid duplication of services.  None of them do what YCC does.  To learn more about YCC’s unique and unduplicated programs visit http://www.ycc.org/ or call (904) 720-0002.

Moving From Risk to Opportunity
The transition from youth to adulthood inspires a mix of excitement and high anxiety.  For the majority of youth in our nation, they survive the transition to adulthood; they graduate, find employment, learn to handle newly found independence, and make responsible decisions. During this complicated transitional time, all youth need a set of connections to help them navigate the shoals of young adulthood.

This support usually comes from their families.  Unfortunately, there are many youth who, through no fault of their own, do not have supportive families and so do not garner the necessary resources. Consequently, they enter adulthood unprepared, unsupported and dispirited, facing a much greater likelihood of bad outcomes throughout their lives. They have few earning opportunities and they are less likely to become stable providers for their own children, and thus, the cycle continues.

According to the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the above-described youth represent our nation's most vulnerable young people. They are largely youth who are raised in troubled families and in neighborhoods lacking support and opportunities. We need to invest in these youth now by providing intervention. The Casey Foundation reports that without intervention, the financial toll at the federal level will be high: $1 billion annually to incarcerate youth in detention; $150 billion for police protection, corrections, and legal activity; $223 billion to fund programs for substance abuse, teen pregnancy, school failure, and workforce preparation. More will be spent at the state and local levels. More important than the monetary costs to our nation, these are young lives that have no hope for a bright future.

For more than 31 years, Youth Crisis Center has been the safety net for these at-risk youth, housing more than 1,600 runaway and homeless children annually. Due to the numbers we serve, our residential program is short-term by design.  However, there are many youth coming to YCC who have no supportive family to return to for help and nurturing. We have been in a quandary for years without long-term beds to support these youth through their crisis, and to help them develop a career path with realistic life goals. Instead, we have been forced to return them back to their troubled families only to see them again at our door as runaways or throwaways.

The Solution
YCC has made the commitment to meet this challenge to help these youth move from risk to opportunity. We have   a plan to develop 40 beds to house older adolescents and young adults who have no family support system, have not completed their education and have no marketable skills to prepare them for gainful employment…that plan is the  Touchstone Village.  The City of Jacksonville has donated  3.7 acres of property adjacent to our campus to build the Touchstone Village to house and help this population of young people. The new campus will feature facilities to house youth, 16-17 years old, who cannot return home, and who are motivated to continue their education and begin working on career paths.
 
Other facilities will include units to house young adults between the ages of    18-21 years, who need social skills, independent living skills and workforce preparation. The campus will also house a recreation facility, training rooms and offices. Our congressional delegation has made a commitment to fund a significant portion of the cost of the Village ($6 million projected capital objective). The remainder will be sought through local and state sources.
Financial sustainability is essential.  Hence, the overall campaign goal will include a permanent  $4 million endowment objective.  The endowment interest will be used as a financial safety net to ensure sustained service delivery to our young.  The combined capital and endowment goals total $10 million.