Behind the pictures on our website and social media, which are filled with celebrations of young people, there is a sobering reality. This reality is that important programs are ending, and others are in jeopardy, due to constantly fluctuating grant priorities and eternally slimming budgets at the local, state, and federal level. All the while community need increases, and the pressure to provide more and more services with fewer and fewer resources continues to be the constant theme for those who provide important services in our community. 

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Currently, we’re facing 3 very hard realities that will greatly impact the way we serve and support young people. 1) The recent news that our Transitional Living Program was not funded for the first time in 24 years. 2) The lack of funding available to maintain our Spark program, which will end in December. And 3) the dire landscape of what the future of non-profit funding will look like with the new administration.  We want to level with our donors and supporters about what we are facing. And, also, what it’s like for non-profits to stay afloat. It might not be the cheery annual appeal letter of years prior, but it is our reality. We have to cut programming, add more to the plates of our staff, meet benchmarks, advocate for youth, beg for money, all while staying committed to our mission and vision and doing it well. 

 

This isn’t a complaint. It’s a call to action. We need your help now, in a way that we never have before, to ensure that the important work that is done right here, in Johnson County, continues for another 50 years. UAY has shown resiliency in the face of a multitude of challenges throughout our existence. What we do want to make clear is that what we are experiencing now is different than in years past. Through all of the changes and shifts in funding, priorities and administrations, our foundation and our strength has always been in our community. We are a LOCAL agency, started by parents worried about their children in the shadow of the Vietnam War. We started here and we have been here for over half a century. And we need your help now, in a way that we never have before, to ensure that the important work that is done right here, in Johnson County, continues for another 50 years. Can we count on you to help us overcome these challenges for our young people?