St. Paul Youth Services

St. Paul Youth Services is Rewriting the Rules for Youth Engagement.

For more than 50 years, St. Paul Youth Services has been a leading provider of early intervention behavior services for East Metro youth.

We partner with schools, the law, nonprofits, and others to keep youth healthy, educated, and free. 9 out of 10 youth we serve do better in school, stay out of the juvenile justice system, and resolve family conflicts in healthy ways.

We work one-on-one with youth as well as their families, teachers, and other adults in their lives to get these great results. We also help institutions transform their cultures, programs, and operations to be more inclusive and responsive to the voices and needs of youth.

In addition, we train representatives from more than 100 different organizations each year on our proven practices for building positive relationships with and outcomes for youth – especially youth of color, LGBTQ+ youth, and youth who have experienced poverty and trauma. Most youth we work with are Black, Indigenous, and Youth of Color.

As more communities and institutions struggle to eliminate disparities in their youth outcomes, our approach of training adults and transforming systems, cultures, policies, and practices – all in partnership with young people themselves – has never been more urgent. Our community simply needs new rules of youth engagement.

Our new strategic plan delivers these. It builds on our past success, partnerships, and core expertise, while scaling them up for greater reach and impact to transform how our community engages youth.

Our new mission of "improving our community's collective ability to engage and support Black youth" also emphasizes that shift: from a deficit-based, reactive view focused on youth behavior to an emphasis on equipping adults to create the conditions in which youth thrive.

We're growing three key areas of our work, which together will amplify youth voice and power, shift adult perspectives and practices, and create more effective and equitable public policy. To

achieve this, we're advocating for resources in proportion to the desired social impact.

Here's our approach to creating a community that offers hope and opportunity to all youth so every child can succeed and thrive:

1. YOUTH PARTNERSHIPS: Build relationships and engage directly and holistically with youth and their families to meet their needs, connect them to resources, practice self-regulation and restorative justice skills, and illuminate pathways to their goals.

2. INSTITUTIONAL PRACTICES: Collaborate with and train institutions who interact with Black youth – whether by mission or circumstance –on adopting proven practices for positive relationships with and equitable outcomes for all youth.

3. PUBLIC POLICIES: Amplify youth power and influence on all issues that impact their lives and hold public agencies accountable for securing positive outcomes for Black youth.

4. ORGANIZATIONAL VITALITY: Walk the talk of being "all in for kids," by pursuing intersectional racial equity and values-based leadership, best practices, continuous improvement, investment in high-yield strategies for youth, and growing our network and resources.

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