Youth & Family Services, Inc. (Rapid City, SD)

General

• Mission:

The mission of Youth & Family Services (YFS) is to support children and their families in becoming capable, caring, and contributing members of the community. To that end, YFS provides developmentally appropriate, culturally competent, research-based programming for over 11,000 children and their families each year throughout western South Dakota.

Rapid City, South Dakota, is located in the sparsely populated western region of South Dakota and is the state’s second largest population center. The 2010 U.S. Census for Rapid City shows the population at 67,956. The largest racial/ethnic group composition is 84% Caucasian and 15% American Indian/Alaska Native, with African-American, Asian, and Others comprising the remaining 1%. In addition to the permanent American Indian population in Rapid City, there is a yearly movement of American Indian people to Rapid City from the adjacent Pine Ridge (Oglala Sioux) Reservation.

Many Girls Inc. members are from low-income families who do not have a tradition of regular preventive visits to health care providers. In addition to poverty, the girls often face multiple challenges in their lives, including chaotic lifestyles, physical and sexual abuse, neglect, substance abuse in the home, violence, cultural disorientation, temporary homelessness, and racial or gender bias. All of these factors place the girls “at-risk” of having unmet health needs, developing unhealthy social skills, and performing poorly in school. YFS Girls Incorporated programming annually assists up to 1,300 girls who are largely underserved by any other program in Rapid City. More than 70 percent of these girls live in poverty (as defined by federal guidelines), 45 percent are of a racial or ethnic minority (primarily American Indian), and 65 percent live in single-parent households. A majority of the girls reside in north Rapid City, which has the greatest socioeconomic need in the community. Many American Indian girls are from transient families that frequently move between the Pine Ridge Reservation and Rapid City. Shannon County, which is located within the Pine Ridge Reservation, is one of the poorest counties in the U.S. and census data do not account for the common transient behavior of many inhabitants of Shannon County and members of the Oglala Sioux Tribe who move to Rapid City starting in the fall of each year. The extreme poverty of Shannon County impacts Rapid City through the travel of families between city and reservation in search of winter housing and employment. These families are often temporarily homeless when they first arrive and before they return to the reservation to live with relatives; i.e., when the motels in the city shift back to tourism in the spring and subsidized housing is no longer available. The children in these families suffer from the lack of security and stability, rarely completing a full school year in the same school.

• History:

In 1965 a grassroots group formed the Girls Club of Rapid City to serve the needs of girls in the community. Incorporated that same year in South Dakota as the Girls Club of Rapid City, the organization began to respond to increasing community needs with food programs, crisis intervention, child care services, counseling services, and prevention programs for children and their families. By 1991, these community-serving initiatives had been added to the agency’s programs, and it became apparent that a new name was needed to more clearly depict the wide variety of programs and services that the organization provided to youth and their families. In April 1991, Girls Club of Rapid City officially changed its name to Youth & Family Services, Inc. (YFS). Coincidentally that same year, Girls Club nationally changed its name to Girls Incorporated, and the original Girls Club of Rapid City program became Girls Incorporated® of Rapid City, a program of Youth & Family Services and an affiliate of the national Girls Incorporated organization.

Today, Youth & Family Services, Inc. is a leader in providing services for children and families in Rapid City and western South Dakota. YFS is a non-profit, 501(c)(3) organization that has grown to be one of the largest, most comprehensive human services agencies in the region. We provide research-based, developmentally appropriate programming and services to more than 11,000 children and their families each year through Girls Incorporated®, YFS Child Care, YFS Head Start programming, YFS Nutrition Services, YFS Counseling Center, and the Western Prevention Resource Center. Each program reflects our mission statement—to support children and their families in being capable, caring, and contributing members of the community. The steady growth of YFS over the past 46 years is a direct result of its commitment and the commitment of the community to serving the needs of children and families.

Nearly 20 years ago, the staff at Girls Incorporated of Rapid City recognized that many low-income girls who attended the program had health-related needs that went beyond the scope of daily programming. A comprehensive health program for girls was developed in 1992, providing physical fitness classes, drug and alcohol prevention education, nutrition education, and health-related excursions. The case management component was added to ensure that at-risk girls obtained access to the health care they needed but were not getting. This effort evolved into the Health Connections program as it operates today. Individuals involved in the initial and on-going decision-making process include Girls Incorporated staff, members of the Power Partners advisory group (community representatives, parents, and Girls Incorporated members), and YFS Executive Administrative staff.

• Year established:1965

Registration

• Organization type:Grantseeker
• Country of registration:United States
• Year established:1965
• Tax Determination Letter:Received Determination Letter
• IRS Section:501(c)(3)
• IRS Subsection:None

Web Listing

• Guidestar listed:Yes
• Charity Navigator listed:No