Update on the Youth Intervention Program bill (HF370)

Late last Friday, YIPA’s Executive Director, J. Scott Beaty learned that a hearing on the Youth Intervention Program bill (HF370) had been scheduled before the House Public Safety & Crime Prevention Policy & Finance Committee. With less than a week to prepare, YIPA staff hurried to pull together materials and supporters to ensure legislators understand the importance of early intervention. They knew that a lot was at stake this Legislative session because the YIP funding must be passed through this committee. HF370 asks to maintain the current funding level of $1.6 million per year, which funds 57 early intervention programs throughout the State of Minnesota. Word spread quickly, and on Wednesday morning, the room was packed with YIPA members, board members, colleagues, constituents, youth and program supporters who came together to rally for the cause.

Carrying the bill (HF370), Republican Steve Smith emphasized the importance of investing in programs now that have been proven to save the state money in the long run. He made several references to the Social Return on Investments (SROI) and answered questions from his cohorts with finesse, confidence and a great deal of knowledge. He is a true champion for kids.

YIPA presented a strong group of testifiers that included those who were impacted both personally and professionally by a Youth Intervention Program. J. Scott Beaty acquainted Legislators with the bulk of information on the Youth Intervention Program, and his urgent message was echoed by James C. Backstrom, Dakota County Attorney; Craig Woolery, Director of Public Safety from the Cottage Grove Police Department; Paul Ramsour, Supervisor of the Life Transitions Program at YouthLink; and Giovanni Alvarado, a 17 year old student at St. James Public School who credited his personal change from getting in trouble to now wanting to become a lawyer on his participation in the St. James Youth Intervention Program. Everyone who shared their story was well received and members of the Committee were fully engaged and interested in the importance of early youth intervention.

Because of dedicated and supportive members, colleagues, constituents and program supporters, YIPA is now one step closer to achieving our mission: To ensure that early intervention youth programs are embraced and well equipped to provide high quality and cost effective early intervention youth services.

Thank you to everyone who came out to show your support!

DISORDERED {thy name is teenager} after YIPA's Quarterly Meeting

MN Youth Intervention Programs Association (YIPA) and The Mentoring Partnership of Minnesota are excited to present a dynamic afternoon training on Friday March 11, 2011. We will be brining in actors from the Blank Slate Theatre to perform the play DISORDERED {thy name is teenager}! This LIVE performance is designed to be a training opportunity for mentoring professionals, youth workers, mentors, and anyone else that works with and cares about young people. The performance is a mixture of spoken word with acting out monologues of various different characters that are coping with some of the common struggles faced by American teens. The cast will talk about disorders such as depression, OCD, Anxiety, eating disorders, ODD and ADHD, as they pertain to their daily lives. This production aims to bring a perspective on teenagers that the media often ignores: that teens, like adults, suffer with mental disorders. A Q&A session with the youth actors, writers and director, and then small group discussions on topics presented in the play will follow up the performance.

“The show orients the audience to the world of teens, the challenges they encounter, and the mental health issues/concerns and stigma some may face as a teen. The young artists provide moving, touching performances. It was an amazing show! Thoughtful and interesting!"

~ Fringe Festival audience member

The actors of DISORDERED have made appearances at the University of Minnesota-Duluth, the Minnesota Mentoring Conference, Fringe Festival, the Minnesota Association of Marriage and Family Therapy Conference, the Lowry Lab Theater and more! Register to be a part of this exciting and informative event!

*YIPA members who are interested in attending this event should note that it immediately follows our March 11 Quarterly Meeting that will be held at Children's Home Society & Family Services in St. Paul. The Quarterly Meeting will run from approximately 10:00am-12:00pm with lunch served shortly thereafter. We will then encourage interested attendees to move to Jewish Community Center of the Greater Saint Paul Area which is about a 15 minute drive from the location of the morning training. Please contact Rachel Ayoub at promisefellow@mnyipa.org for additional information.

An Urgent Message from Senator John Marty

In yesterday’s Mille Lacs Messenger, Senator John Marty, a member of the Minnesota Senate, discussed in great detail the importance of supporting early intervention programs for youth. He also made reference to the Social Return on Investments (SROI) data collected and distributed in 2007. Below is the article in its entirety:

It is a reality that the enormous state budget deficit will require significant budget cuts and tax increases. Yes, I know that Republican legislators claim they will not accept any new taxes, but their first budget proposal contained significant tax increases on renters and is projected to cause large property tax increases on homeowners and businesses.

Governor Dayton campaigned for office saying that he is going to increase income taxes. So, although there will be a struggle over which taxes to raise, taxes will go up. 



Likewise, for budget cuts. Few areas of the budget will remain untouched. Despite many cuts in recent years, some parts of the budget are projected to continue growing rapidly, making them targets for even deeper cuts. 



This is where we need to change our perspective. First we need to recognize that deep cuts in programs and services are not simply a matter of accounting; these programs serve real people with real needs. For a family fighting to avoid homelessness or for people with disabilities who need health care services to live independently, cuts are not painless. Cuts bleed.



In addition to causing real human suffering, some cuts are fiscally irresponsible and cost taxpayers more in the long run. Cuts that lead to higher crime rates, reduce the quality of education for students, or leave sick people without healthcare, hurt Minnesota's future. 



One example is Youth Intervention Programs. Minnesota provides funding to 57 local organizations around the state that work with at-risk young people, intervening because of truancy, drug use, homelessness, or when they are in court for shoplifting or other crimes. Youth Intervention Programs (YIP) work with about 25,000 young people each year - counseling, educating, mentoring, and coaching them - enabling them to remain with their families, instead of in costly foster care, correctional institutions or residential treatment. These YIP grantees are community-based programs, where the participants live at home but meet with a mentor or counselor in the program. A survey of participants showed big progress for most of the youth - over half had improvement in school attendance and grades, and over 80% had no further interactions with the law since entering the program. 



In a benefit-cost analysis conducted by Wilder Research, economist Paul Anton calculated, using conservative assumptions, that the typical YIP program provides almost $5 in benefits for every dollar spent, with $2.33 of those savings going to taxpayers through reduced crime and court costs, and lower human services and school costs. 



That's not an 8 or 10% return on investment but a 233% return! That dwarfs the level of savings that legislators and governors hope to obtain when we work to make state government more efficient.



With that type of savings, it would be wise for the state to make sure that these youth intervention services are available to all at-risk youth. Yet only a fraction of those youth have access to the programs, and the state appropriation for YIP was reduced from $2.4 million in the previous budget cycle to $1.6 million now.



Over the past decade, under the push for lower taxes, there are many programs and services like YIP that have been inadequately funded, or have actually been cut. Our current budget crisis is largely the result of Minnesota's failure to invest in prevention. We are paying the price for past short-sightedness. 



Economists and demographers tell us that the state will have even greater budget difficulties in the future. We have an aging population, and state revenues are not projected to keep up with the growth in spending needed to address those growing public needs. Some of the budget cuts that are likely this year may balance the state books now, but only make the future budget problems worse.



We will have to make many budget cuts, and none of them will be easy. But when doing so, we cannot afford to cut Youth Intervention Programs or numerous other services - such as early childhood education, preventive healthcare, chemical dependency treatment, and teen pregnancy prevention, which have a strong return-on-investment.



The reality is that it will cost taxpayers less overall if we spend more on these services now. Let's not keep repeating the mistakes of the past.