Since 1976
About Us
OUr mission is to enhance the quality of life for Youth and Their Families through our innovative services and Programs.
Our story
Youth Connections (YC) began as a 501(c) 3 non-profit group home for youth in 1976 in Johnson County. Over the years as the needs of youth and families have changed in our communities YC has added more programs and services to serve these needs. YC has expanded their service area as well by adding Morgan in 2000, Brown in 2017 and Marion County in 2021.
Our programs focus on the prevention of juvenile delinquency, advocacy for youth, serving runaway and homeless youth, and community education. In 1983 YC added a divorce education class for parents and children which is our Families in Transition program today. National Safe Place was added to our programming in 1988 as well as transitioning to our Host Homes program from our shelter. We have over 200 Safe place locations today and continue to get more everyday. In 1998 the need for supervised visitation centers that were affordable was brought to the attention of YC and we quickly established this service to our center and have worked with local courts to keep this program going today. We added after school programming in 2007 and have expanded this to include our summer camp. We work to keep this program free for parents and work on transportation needs for summer programs. In 2018 we added Family Mentoring with our Basic Needs assistance, Budgeting classes, Trauma informed care for parents classes, and many other offerings.
Meet our Team
Shana has been with Youth Connections since 2016. She started out as Program Coordinator for Childrens Visitation Center and in 2019 was promoted to Executive Director. Shanas favorite thing about working with YC is getting to see the impact we have on families and helping to solve problems for families to help relieve some of their stress.
Jamie started out as a program assistant in 2017 and was promoted to office manager in 2018. In 2020 she became our Court Ordered Services Director? Executive Assistant.
Traci joined us in 2021 as Famliy Services Director. Even though she joined us in the middle of the pandemic she has already expanded her program and is making a huge impact in our community.
Noelle joined us in 2021 as YouthServices Director. Noelle has been a great addition to our team and is busy with our after school programming and summer camps for our youth.
Make a Change
Board Description
Current Board
President- Vacant
VP of Finance- Lucas Hill
VP of Governance- David Carpenter
VP of Marketing- Christina Herbert
Trustees- Steve Webb
Contact Us
Office H0urs
Monday-Thursday: 9 am – 7 pm
Friday: 9 am- 12 pm
Saturday: 8 am- 4 pm
Sunday: Closed
If there is no one at the office please call 317-727-2571