Research shows that when youth have a voice in decisions that impact their lives, it contributes to their own future success and strengthens the systems that serve them — particularly in the case of those who are recovering from trauma. But for service providers, finding ways to authentically engage youth isn’t always easy. Guided by… Read more »

Last month, TNOYS hosted a meeting of its Emergency Shelter Task Force, with organizations from across Texas traveling to Fort Worth to hear important updates that affect their work. We’re grateful to Superior Health Plan for helping to sponsor the meeting and sharing information about their work with attendees, and to ACH Child and Family… Read more »

By Dr. Katherine Byers, TNOYS Director of Child Welfare Policy The absence of community based mental health care results in those who need treatment ending up instead in hospitals, on the streets, and in the foster care and juvenile justice systems. To help address this problem, Texas applied for and received the Youth Empowerment Services… Read more »

THRU Project, TNOYS’ newest member organization, was created after CEO Elaine Andries Hartle saw personally the lack of mentorship available to youth aging out of foster care to help them navigate the realities of adult life. “In my efforts to help my own teenage foster sons I learned about the resources available to them and… Read more »

In early September, TNOYS kicked off the first in-person meeting of our new Young Adult Leadership Council (YALC), the latest in our efforts to elevate youth voice in our work and within the organizations in our network. The initial membership of the YALC includes eight youth and young adults from TNOYS member organizations, who traveled… Read more »

For several years, TNOYS has heard from our members and others that there simply are not enough opportunities for high-level leadership training and professional development in the nonprofit sector. In an effort to meet that need, TNOYS partnered with the RGK Center and St. David’s Church to host the first-ever Leading Through Change conference last week… Read more »

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 »