Posts By: Sondra Lehmann

We know that there is a lot of room for improvement when it comes to preparing foster youth in Texas for the transition to adulthood – youth who have aged out of the system disproportionately suffer from homelessness, unemployment, criminal involvement, and many other challenges. SB 1758, passed during the 2017 Texas Legislative Session, is… Read more »

As we approach the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Harvey hitting the Texas Gulf Coast, youth and their families in the area are continuing to feel the effects of the devastating storm. One of the most persistent challenges is homelessness, with many of those who were displaced still living without permanent, stable housing. We know that… Read more »

Research shows that more than half of Latina girls get pregnant before age twenty and that teen pregnancy in Texas is predicted to continue increasing due to projected population growth of Latino adolescents. As an organization devoted to addressing the physical, social and emotional wellbeing of Latino and other families in Central Texas, TNOYS member… Read more »

Because youth voice is critical to TNOYS’ work, we have always included youth presenters at our Annual Conference, and we began inviting youth to participate alongside professional attendees two years ago. At our 35th Annual Conference, which took place in Houston last week, we wanted to take that participation even further and make it a… Read more »

For the staff here at TNOYS, one of the highlights of our Annual Conference is getting to present annual member awards to deserving youth services professionals and organizations within our network. This year, we had an amazing group of awardees to recognize for all their hard work to secure a bright future for Texas’ youth… Read more »

Thanks to our network of organizations and leaders across the state, TNOYS has access to incredible expertise for strengthening youth services programming and administrative functions. In our effort to support youth services organizations so they are best able to serve our state’s young people, we share our expertise with organizations who need it through our… Read more »

Houston reVision has been working since 2011 to end the school to prison pipeline in the Houston area through a combination of mentoring, outreach and community activities. While the bulk of their work has been with youth in the juvenile justice system, like many other providers they have increasingly encountered youth that are also simultaneously… Read more »

Connections Individual and Family Services first started operating in Comal County in 1981 and since then, has expanded to provide a variety of services in nearly 20 Texas counties. Connections CEO Kellie Stallings estimates that the organization now reaches over 20,000 people a year through its various programs that include counseling, substance abuse prevention education,… Read more »

Youth voice has always been a critical piece of TNOYS’ approach to strengthening youth services, represented by the “participation” piece of our three-pronged Policy-Practice-Participation framework. Since our annual conference is our largest yearly event, and best opportunity for training and collaboration, it only makes sense that youth should be part of it and we began… Read more »

By Katherine Barillas, PhD, TNOYS’ Director of Child Welfare Policy The challenges of Texas’ child welfare system have received a lot of attention and many leaders and service providers have been hard at work to find solutions to address them.  At the federal level, a new wave of reform presented itself with the Families First Prevention… Read more »