Vigo County Youth Service Bureau

Indiana's youth service bureaus -- while all very unique -- work to support four core roles.

• Juvenile Delinquency Prevention - Re-directing vulnerable children and youth toward productive behavior and away from delinquency.
• Information and Referral Services - Maintaining a wide spectrum of resources on need of and services for vulnerable children and families
• Community Education - Programs to help families, volunteers, and leaders understand and develop awareness of causes, needs and remedies related to delinquency
• Youth Advocacy - Being a voice for vulnerable youth both in special individual circumstances and in matters of public policy

Youth Service Bureaus take on some of the toughest challenges in our society. They work every day with troubled youth and their families. Their programs prevent crime and violence among youth and keep young people out of our juvenile justice and child welfare systems.

Anchored firmly in the communities they serve, Youth Service Bureaus work in their county and their communities to solve and prevent local problems. Their programs are based on local needs and conditions. In 1995, more than 60,000 Hoosier youth and families were helped by Youth Service Bureau programs.

While a small portion of program funding comes from public sources such as federal and state initiatives, most comes from the private sector. Support for specific on-site programs is generally raised locally and is separate from the resources needed for statewide training programs, accreditation and peer review activities and collaboration with organizations that share a portion of our mission.

Knowing their communities intimately, the employees and volunteers of the Services in each county originate and implement the best possible local solutions and referrals. Their commitment is professional and personal: The youth and families they serve are their own.

They implement prevention and intervention programs proven by experience, evaluation, and research to be successful and cost effective. They apply their knowledge, talent, and energy to developing programs which will continue to improve the ways we, as caring communities, guide and direct our children.

To these ends all Youth Service Bureaus and our statewide association are committed to:

1. Preventing juvenile delinquency by ensuring that every community in Indiana has effective and adequate programs and systems in these areas
2. Improving the quality and capacity of programs for delinquency prevention, program development, effective and appropriate information and education resources
3. Strengthening effective advocacy by educating community leaders, policy-makers, educators, juvenile justice professionals, and caring communities on the issues, benefits, dangers, and best practices.
4. Increasing investment of individuals and organizations in the people and programs that tie delinquency prevention, effective action and strong advocacy together for stronger, safer, better communities.