Every two to three years, TNOYS works with our Board of Directors to develop a strategic plan to guide our work and outline priorities for supporting Texas’ youth and families and the organizations and professionals who serve them. We recently completed the new strategic plan for FY 2020 – FY 2021 and we’re excited about… Read more »

This post is authored by Alex Polk, a member of TNOYS’ Young Adult Leadership Council. As we continue to see exposure and heightened awareness from the LGBTQ community, it’s imperative that youth service providers educate ourselves and others on how we can support the LGBTQ  youth we work with directly and also educate foster parents on the importance of creating… Read more »

Heartstrings Youth Village, one of TNOYS’ newest member organizations, was recently started by former school social worker Ritasha Taylor, who saw that there weren’t enough resources available in her East Fort Bend County community to support youth experiencing housing instability. Until the new organization can build a brick-and-mortar shelter, its goal is to address youth… Read more »

Last year, TNOYS held its first-ever leadership conference for nonprofit executives in an effort to meet the need for quality leadership and management training in the nonprofit sector. After a successful event and positive feedback from attendees, we brought back the conference for a second year and once again were able to share some valuable… Read more »

TNOYS hosted our 36th Annual Conference for Services to Youth and Families in Houston last month and was excited to see how enthusiastically attendees embraced this year’s theme of “Stepping Into Your Superpower.” Inspired by a variety of expert speakers and interactive workshops, attendees of all ages and backgrounds worked together to strengthen their skills… Read more »

One of the things that truly sets TNOYS’ Annual Conference apart is the fact that youth and young adults are fully integrated as planners, presenters, and participants. It is part of TNOYS’ commitment to elevating youth voice and encouraging youth engagement in decisions that impact their lives — an approach that has been proven to… Read more »

As the 86th Texas Legislative Session winds down, we are excited to report that it has produced some important policy changes that will have a big impact for youth. TNOYS’ legislative agenda for this session addressed multiple issues, including increasing foster care reimbursement rates, strengthening the Preparation for Adult Living (PAL) program for youth transitioning… Read more »

This spring, TNOYS and the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) co-hosted the training session “Building Alliances with Youth to Prevent Runaway and Other Challenging Behaviors” in three cities across Texas. Young adults with experience in the foster care system and youth currently in care helped present much of the material on how… Read more »

TNOYS and our partners Texas Homeless Network, and Texas Homeless Education Office have been hard at work moving the Safety Nets for Students and Families project forward, hosting dozens of training events and awarding over $600,000 in grant funding during the past school year. It is all part of an effort to support schools and community-based organizations… Read more »

Our Friends Place has been in operation in Dallas for just over 30 years, helping young women in its transitional living centers (TLC) learn the self-reliance and life skills they need to lead successful adult lives. Now, thanks to a new non-residential outreach and education program launched two years ago, the organization is bringing the… Read more »