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Office of Children & Family Services |
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The Office of Youth Development (OYD) was created to design, coordinate and promote innovative strategies to advance youth development. These strategies will cut across all disciplines at the state and local levels. The goal is for all New York State youth to reach their full potential and become healthy, productive adults.
The Office of Youth Development supports and funds programs and initiatives that enable youth to build on their strengths. It supports programs that provide opportunities for youth to gain important life skills and core competencies, and that allow youth to have meaningful roles in their communities. Youth development initiatives benefit young people in their homes and neighborhoods, in schools, as well as in foster care and residential treatment.
Partnership is key. The Office of Youth Development staff work collaboratively within OCFS and with other state agencies, youth bureaus, local governments, contract agencies, schools, public and private organizations, the faith-based community, and with young people and their families.
The Office of Youth Development is an active member of the Partners for Children Youth Development Team, a state-level public/private partnership focused on positive outcomes for New York State youth.
Regional Youth Development Coordinators work with communities to plan and achieve positive youth development opportunities. In that role, they:
The Office of Children and Family Services (OCFS), through its Office of Youth Development, works in collaboration with the Association of New York State Youth Bureaus (ANYSYB) and Cornell Cooperative Extension (CCE) to provide statewide youth development training partnerships including:
The OCFS Office of Youth Development is leading New York’s Ready by 21™ Quality Counts statewide effort, partnering with local departments of social services and county youth bureaus in four specific counties: Broome, Orange, Onondaga and Rockland. By embedding program quality assessment within monitoring functions at the state and local levels, New York hopes to increase cross-system collaboration in service of a shared vision for young people across the state.
The OYD Bureau of Compliance provides oversight and accountability for the agency's youth development funding. Its responsibilities include:
The Runaway and Homeless Youth Advisory Committee, comprised of community and state agency representatives, advises OCFS on matters pertaining to the administration of the Runaway and Homeless Youth Act.
The Office of Youth Development is the recipient of an award made by the United States Department of Health and Human Services known as the Positive Youth Development State and Local Collaboration Demonstration Project. This project targets resources to the high need/risk area of Sector 8 located within the city of Rochester. Together, the county of Monroe and City of Rochester and New York State partner for the purpose of increasing opportunities for youth by building upon the community’s ability to address its own problems through adult and youth partnerships. This project builds upon and illustrates, through the local collaboration, the strong state-wide framework, commitment and expertise in the area of positive youth development strategies.
The Mental Health Juvenile Justice Diversion Project (MH/JJ) provides funding through municipal contracts for the purpose of identifying and diverting Juvenile Delinquent youth with identified mental health and substance abuse treatment needs from OCFS residential placement. The Project requires that mental health teams be co-located within local probation departments providing the following services: screening, assessment (both strength-based and diagnostic), case management services including wraparound, as well as direct and referral services, for the identified youth and their family.
Funded counties include the following: Broome, Columbia, Dutchess, NYC-Kings,
Orange, Schenectady, and Westchester.
Mailing Address:
NYS Office of Children & Family Services
Office of Youth Development
Capital View Office Park
North Building, Room 338
52 Washington Street
Rensselaer, NY 12144
Telephone Numbers:
Director (518) 474-4110
Compliance (518) 474-4110
Regional Offices:
Albany Office (518) 473-4453
Buffalo Office (716) 847-3323
New York City Office (212) 383-4703
Rochester Office (585) 238-8281
Syracuse Office (315) 423-5486
Hempstead Office (516) 564-4430
The Commission on National and Community Service provides information on its website pertaining to programs funded through AmeriCorps grants, and community service opportunities available through AmeriCorps programs.