Youth Service Bureaus Help Kids and Families in NB & Across State
By Christopher L. Montes, M.A., N.C.P., F.D.C., B.C.C.P | Community Services Division – Commission on Persons with Disabilities at September 2, 2023 | 10:45 am | Print
(One of two parts on the YSB. See part two next week)
As the Administrator of the City’s Community Services Division and head of New Britain Youth and Family Services (the City’s Youth Service Bureau), I am sometimes asked what a Youth Service Bureau (YSB) actually is, and what it does. This article will give an overview of YSBs in general, as well as provide specific details as to what the New Britain YSB offers to the youth and community of New Britain .
While often part of municipal government, YSBs exist by Connecticut state statute. In plain English, their role is twofold: to evaluate, coordinate, services for youth in each community they serve, and to assist troubled youth and families who may become or are already involved with the Juvenile Court system or experiencing other difficult challenges such as mental he4alth disorders, teen pregnancy, substance abuse, and homelessness. In statutory language it reads like this: A “multipurpose youth service bureau (exists) for the purposes of evaluation, planning, coordination and implementation of services, including prevention and intervention programs for delinquent, pre-delinquent, pregnant, parenting and troubled youth referred to such bureau by schools, police, juvenile courts, adult courts, local youth-serving agencies, parents and self-referrals. A youth service bureau shall be the coordinating unit of community-based services to provide comprehensive delivery of prevention, intervention, treatment and follow-up services. And “may provide, but shall not be limited to the delivery of, the following services: (1) Individual and group counseling; (2) parent training and family therapy; (3) work placement and employment counseling; (4) alternative and special educational opportunities; (5) recreational and youth enrichment programs; (6) outreach programs to insure participation and planning by the entire community for the development of regional and community-based youth services; (7) preventive programs, including youth pregnancy, youth suicide, violence, alcohol and drug prevention; and (8) programs that develop positive youth involvement. Such services shall be designed to meet the needs of youth by the diversion of troubled youth from the justice system as well as by the provision of opportunities for all youth to function as responsible members of their communities (CGS 10-19m).The statutory language is fairly broad, and is meant to be empowering of YSBs within each of the communities they serve. Currently, there are 103 YSBs statewide, serving 135 cities and towns. Funding for YSBs originates from the State of Connecticut Department of Education (SDE) as well as cash and in kind matches from each municipality. However, most YSBs augment these funding sources with additional revenue such as grants from other state agencies and private foundations, as well as charitable contributions and fund raisers. In fact, these other sources of funding typically far outweigh the dollar amounts allocated by the SDE and in some cases the municipal contributions. As a whole, in the past fiscal year YSBs served 35,723 individual youth within the state according to the 2011 SDE Report to the Connecticut General Assembly. These were specific individuals or families rather than groups or community-wide events, which are difficult to accurately measure because of duplication of counts in different large group services. Services provided to youth were broad including individual mental health counseling, family counseling, diversion from Juvenile Court, after school programming, positive youth development and enrichment programs, youth employment programs, crisis intervention, case management, youth volunteer programs, school support programs, and more.
YSB effectiveness is measured by Results Based Accountability (RBA). Essentially, this form of measurement asks the questions “Did your program do what it was intended to do?”, and, respective to the youth and families served, “Are they better off?” There are several sub-measures within the RBA tool, but suffice it to say, it is very specific and very accurate.
