What is YIPA?

What is YIPA?

YIPA (MN Youth Intervention Programs Association) is the advocate in Minnesota for youth intervention programs and is the hub for information and expertise about early youth intervention. As a statewide membership association, YIPA joins organizations like the YWCA of Minneapolis with Ely Community Resources, and the Moorhead Police Department with the Hmong American Partnership. We provide trainings, advocate for youth intervention programs, direct lobbying at the State Capitol, networking, collaboration opportunities, provide research and organizational resources to youth intervention professionals and facilitate fund raising opportunities.

A Banner from YIPA's 2009 Rally for Youth Day at the Capitol

Who Becomes a Member?

YIPA members are a diverse group. Any organization or individual, who provides community-based youth intervention services are welcome to join. Additionally, businesses and other entities that support YIPA’s efforts to promote and enhance the field of youth intervention services can join as Allied Members. Youth intervention spans the continuum of care from prevention to providing specific behavioral interventions to diversion programs (keeping youth out of the costly correctional system). YIPA’s organizational members serve youth ages 6-18 who have just begun to exhibit behaviors that could lead to destructive and/or criminal behavior in the future. This can be a community center with groups for gang and violence prevention, a mental health organization with an intervention program for youth, or a diversion program that deals with referrals from police departments and court services. YIPA members can do more than youth intervention, like the YWCA, which has many programs for youth and families or it can be a purely youth intervention program like Bolder Options who through mentors, provides running, biking and goal setting services for youth referred for school truancy issues. Click here for a list of all YIPA members.

Why Join?

YIPA members benefit in myriad ways from membership. YIPA’s professional development opportunities give members an affordable way to learn from the best in the field. Click here for a full list of up-coming trainings. YIPA members are part of a larger community conversation about youth intervention. They have direct contact with a wide range of programs and approaches across the state. YIPA members have a professional lobbyist to speak for them at the State Capitol. YIPA is a participatant in several regional and statewide youth policy collaboratives. YIPA provides research, social media networking, and continuing opportunities for growth and development. In short, YIPA collectively provides services that individuals and organizations usually do not do on their own because of the cost and resources it would take to provide those services. When groups and individuals come together collectively for a purpose, a lot of good things can happen!

A Breakout Session at YIPA's 2009 Youth Intervention Conference

Who works for YIPA?

YIPA’s staff is small, but manages to provide diverse services for its members and for the youth intervention community as a whole. It’s the volunteers from within the membership, however, that help the staff accomplish all the great things YIPA does for the intervention youth service community!

Scott Beaty, YIPA’s Executive Director, is a registered lobbyist and has over 25 years of experience advocating for early intervention youth services at the Capitol in Saint Paul. He has also steered the direction of YIPA for the past two decades! When not in the office and with his family, Scott can probably be found in a fishing boat or in a duck blind. To talk about advocacy efforts and YIPA’s role in the future of Minnesota contact Scott at jsbeaty@comcast.net.

Jessi Strinmoen, YIPA’s Director of Services, coordinates YIPA’s professional development opportunities. She is in charge of bringing all of our amazing speakers (many of whom have contributed to this blog) into your community. In additional to traveling around Minnesota running youth intervention trainings, Jessi makes reusable cloth grocery bags and sells them on etsy.com! To learn more about YIPA’s trainings and programs email Jessi at jstrinmoen@mnyipa.org.

Chris Klejbuk is YIPA’s membership coordinator. Chris helps grow the YIPA community every year and makes sure that members get what they need from their statewide association. If she’s not helping YIPA serve more and more Minnesota programs, Chris can be found at the St. Catherine University’s Alumnae Association. To become a member of YIPA or to learn more about membership email Chris at cklejbuk@tcq.net.

Ann Marie Grocholski, YIPA’s development director, makes sure that youth intervention gets a piece of the pie from foundations to corporations to all sort of exciting fund raising opportunities. See this post for example. You may not see Ann Marie around much these days as she is about to have a baby! She’ll be back in the swing of things this summer.

Clare Ryan, YIPA’s Promise Fellow, manages this blog and loves to talk to YIPA members about all of the exciting ways that they are serving youth and making their programs better. She’ll be leaving in August to head back East for law school, but she’d be happy to hear from all of you about how to make this blog a better resource for you! To talk about social media or YIPA’s research initiatives email Clare at cryan@mnyipa.org.