SPYS’ 2023 ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Accomplishments across our programs included:
Behavior Intervention Program (BIP):
Our program provides support for students exhibiting adolescent behaviors that benefit from redirection, de-escalation strategies, and restorative practices, and targeted professional development for educators and school administrators. We expanded our partnerships with Saint Paul Public Schools and now provide on-site support for middle and high school students at four schools. In addition, we grew our program into Minneapolis, developing our first partnership with a Minneapolis Public School. We launched new restorative justice programming, giving students in schools an opportunity to be accountable for their actions without disrupting learning, and in a way that restores them to community. Our BIP Specialists supported 128 students and their families on their direct caseload and provided support to 4,975 students at all school partners.
Our restorative justice program offers an alternative to court for a range of first-time offenses, including shoplifting, property damage, and curfew violations, helping young people avoid repeat mistakes and stay out of the criminal justice system. SPYS enrolled 24 youth in the program in 2023 and expanded community outreach and education among youth-serving organizations to raise awareness of the program and reach more youth with support before they encounter the justice system.
YouthPowerMN℠ Leadership Institute (YPMN):
We invite students from BIP and Pre-Charge Diversion to this leadership program, which partners with youth to design and implement a curriculum on Healing and Identity, Exploration and Innovation, and Policy Change.
We partnered with 32 youth during the year. We also launched an exciting new initiative in partnership with Allina Health: There’s a Career for You in Health Care. During this initiative, YPMN leaders explored health care careers, including hands on experiences at the Allina Simulation Lab, and met with mentors from Allina Health for four weeks. As one partner from Allina described their experience as a mentor, “I love seeing the engagement and growth from the fall to now and being future oriented.” Another noted “I would have loved something like this when I was in high school.”
We launched the second season of our podcast, which interviews community and business leaders, youth champions, and other radicals whose work builds on the power and genius fundamental to Black communities, Indigenous communities, and communities of color. Over the year we explored topics ranging from Black motherhood to reconnecting with ones roots through travel to the role of business leaders in creating supportive communities for youth.
These incredible accomplishments were thanks in part to the ongoing support of our amazing youth champions, who provide generous donations, resources, share our work, and invest in creating the world that our young people deserve. Partners included (but are not limited to!) the Minnesota Department of Public Safety, Minneapolis Foundation, Twin Cities United Way, NBA Foundation, Saint Paul Public Schools, and the Berglund Foundation. We are so grateful for their faith in our vision.
As you read about the details of our work this past year in the following report, consider what changes would have happened in your life if you had access to consistently high expectations with high support, provided by smart, fair, and loving adults invested in you. What ways can you embrace this model for our communities and our kids? How can we be the adults we wish we had?