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The members of the Indiana Youth Services Association (IYSA) would like to thank the members of the Indiana General Assembly for their support. In 2007, the House of Representatives approved a $125,000 increase to expand Project Safe Place. Since 1985, this program has provided access to immediate help and supportive resources for all young people in crisis. The increase in funding allowed us to set up programming in 5 new counties (Elkhart, Jefferson, Porter, Tipton and Owen), and our program has experienced a 113% increase in youth receiving crisis care since 2005. Although the 2008 state budget shows that funding in the Safe Place line item reverted and it appears that the increase wasn’t utilized, please note that the Department of Child Services funded the $125,000 through a separate fund that is no longer available to them. The members of IYSA want to assure you that this increase in funding had a major impact and we want to ask for your support so it remains in the 2009 budget. Nationally the program runs in 41 states. In Indiana Project Safe Place supports 1,075 sites in 17 counties - all for $250,000 per year. Since last year, over 50,479 youth received education and/or direct crisis intervention. Indiana’s investment? Only $4.95 per child, a reasonable cost by almost any measure. More importantly, 85% of the youth served were eventually reunited with their families with the option of individual or family counseling through our Youth Service Bureaus. This year, we all sadly watched as desperate parents dropped off their troubled youth in Nebraska. It was comforting to know that Indiana provides a Safe Place for families and kids in crisis. "Until our streets are safe... Again, we want to say thank you on behalf of Hoosier youth! For more information about IYSA or Project Safe Place contact Cheryl Hall-Russell at 317-238-6955 or challruss@indysb.org. |
