MINOT — This week, Youthworks agreed to collaborate with Ward County in providing emergency, short-term shelters for children and young adults up to age 22 in the Minot area.
A recent change in legislation now requires new criteria for housing youth. Therefore, if the commissioners agree to continue partnering with Youthworks, both parties have until August 2022 to establish a state certified shelter, since the current shelter will no longer be in compliance.
First established in 1979 as Mountain Plains Youth Services Coalition in South Dakota, the agency moved to North Dakota in 1986 and became known as “Youthworks.” Its shelters and specially trained staff provide services for homeless, runaway, trafficked, and struggling youth in the North Dakota region.
Its primary offices are based in Bismarck and Fargo. However, it also provides services in Dickinson, Grand Forks, Jamestown, Minot, and Williston.
Minot Program Manager Emily Yanish explained that Youthworks has four shelters throughout the state that provide emergency housing for more than 1,000 children and young adults each year, 50-75 being victims of human trafficking. The average stay for those in the care of Youthworks is two to three weeks before more permanent housing can be found.
The Youthworks Minot shelter is currently located near the Ward County Administration building, and Youthworks also helps to coordinate potential guardians for children through its Guardian ad Litem Program.
According to its website, the Youthworks mission is “to provide effective, independent advocacy in the best interest of children before court.”
In addition to its emergency short-term foster care in Minot, Youthworks also provides services to victims of human trafficking up to age 22. “We have one staff person in Minot. Her name is Carrie Evans,” Yanish said, regarding anti-human trafficking staff in Minot. “She actually sits on the Minot City Council. She is what we call our youth Navigator.”
Yanish continued, “[Navigators] receive referrals from law enforcement, school services, potentially school counselors if they have concerns, and to give some good advice to those entities… if case coordination is needed, then the Navigator brings together relevant parties, coordinates team meetings, documents plans, and follows up to make sure that the young person is getting all the services that they need.”
Yanish said COVID-19 set back the agency’s efforts in 2020 when it first came to Minot. However, later that year they were able pick up where they left off. The current shelter that Youthworks serves at is owned by the county and has the capacity for five youths.
Moving forward, Yanish says Youthworks is looking into a potential lease-to-buy agreement with Ward County for a property capable of housing up to eight beds, that is if the county commissioners decide to purchase a building that meets the new child services requirements.
Next week on March 15, Youthworks will share what it is looking for in a new shelter as it crafts a new memorandum of understanding with the Ward County.
