St. Paul Youth Services

St. Paul Youth Services is rewriting the rules of youth engagement.

For 45 years, St. Paul Youth Services has effectively disrupted the cradle-to-prison pipeline. Now we also partner with youth to dismantle it!

St. Paul Youth Services’ mission is to improve the community’s collective ability to engage and support all youth.

St. Paul Youth Services (SPYS) partners with youth to transform all levels of influence on their lives: organizations, individuals, systems, and policies. We engage youth in building skills to achieve their goals; transform nonprofits and public agencies to be more youth-centric; and amplify youth voice in public policy - to achieve measurably positive and equitable youth outcomes. Our programs include:

·       School-based early behavior-intervention programs. 9 of 10 youth improve or stabilize classroom behavior, and 8 of 10 improve on attendance and academics and suspensions are dramatically reduced.

·       A restorative justice alternative for minor first-time juvenile offenses. 9 of 10 youth avoid recidivism.

·       Workshops and consulting to transform organizational cultures, policies, and practices to achieve equitable outcomes for youth of color. More than 100 nonprofits and public agencies use our trainings and tools. (Youth participate as paid experts.)

·       YouthPower, a youth-led organizing hub where Black youth come together to learn, explore, build community, and organize and advocate on issues that affect their lives. They engage in a curriculum of healing & identity, exploration & innovation, and policy change.

·       Youth-led dialogues with policymakers. Efforts have: led to youth influence on the police chief selection process, challenged school board candidates on youth priorities, and prevented a criminalizing curfew law.

If you want justice for Black youth, invest in their power to achieve it!