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Healing & Hope Idaho Youth Ranch FY21 Impact report

We unite for Idaho's youth by providing accessible programs and services that nurture hope, healing, and resilience.

Healing and Hope.

From a young woman who was kidnapped across state lines to young people contemplating suicide to families growing closer together via our services, in 2021 we saw how being brave enough to ask for help can change the course of a young person's life.

Healing and hope. That is the heart of our mission, and this year we saw incredible transformations made possible by Idahoans who banded together behind the belief that our kids are more than their worst experiences.

In a year when the need for healing and hope was immense, our community came together for our kids.

Your support:

  • Fueled healing and hope for 1,112 kids and their families with the support they needed to weather trauma, adversity, loss, and a pandemic.
  • Kept 91 kids with nowhere to go safe with 2,598 shelter days at Idaho Youth Ranch Hays House and made it the only recognized Safe Place® in Idaho.
  • Took career readiness statewide, nearly tripling the number of kids served through internships and offering full workshops to more young people.
  • Continued to provide proven therapies for Idaho's kids while we raised money to help bring them home.

In this impact report, you will read stories of triumph and resilience. Thanks to your generosity, many young people are no longer held back by the burden of trauma and adversity. The incredible donors, volunteers, and staff who bring our mission to life reach young people in every corner of the state and give them what they need to heal from the past and have hope for the future.

Thank you for joining us in 2021.

Sincerely,

Scott Curtis

CEO

Healing & Hope

Your support last year provided healing and hope for kids throughout Idaho in the last year. Our donors, shoppers, volunteers, and advocates helped 1,112 young people (including 72 who received multiple services) and their family members transform trauma and adversity into hope, healing, and resilience between July 2020 and June 2021.

Outpatient Therapies

Last year, 348 young people experienced over 3,000 hours of proven therapies that helped them process trauma, adversity, and loss in our therapeutic locations in North Idaho and the Treasure Valley, as well as through TeleMental Health Services.

Equine Therapy

Last year, 223 young people participated in Equine Therapy throughout Idaho. These young people came to the arena carrying burdens like loss, domestic violence, abuse, and trauma and left with hope and peace. Your support provided over 2,000 hours of Equine Therapy to Idaho’s most vulnerable youth.

Short-Term Residential Care

When vulnerable kids felt lost or did not have a safe place to go, Idaho Youth Ranch Hays House was there to give 91 young people short-term residential care. Your support provided individual and group therapies, kept them in their home school as much as possible, and helped them connect with their families and support so that they could heal. Your support provided 2,598 shelter days to young people who found themselves homeless or in crisis.

Adoption Services

Hope starts at the very beginning. Last year you helped 72 families through adoption services, including home studies, crisis counseling, adoptive child counseling, and post-placement follow-up through Idaho Youth Ranch Adoption Services.

Career Readiness

You helped 248 young people learn how to take their first steps into the workforce through career readiness workshops, paid in-store internships, individual career coaching, financial management, and mentorship through YOUTHWORKS!

Family Therapy Support

We know that a healthy home is the foundation of healing and hope. That is why 210 parents and siblings participated in Equine Therapy, Outpatient Therapy, and TeleMental Health as a family. Now, families throughout the state are healing together and using the tools they learned at Idaho Youth Ranch to break generational cycles of trauma.

Healing & Hope from the start in 1953.

Hope Through Equine Therapy.

Jason spent years of his life watching his father physically abuse his mother.

When Jason was nine, his father was finally incarcerated for domestic battery. By then, Jason was angry and did not know how to process his trauma. He tried to carry the weight of all that rage and fear in his small body, but it was too much. It consumed him.

By the time Jason was fifteen, he was so used to being angry that he didn't notice it anymore. Bullying kids at school became an outlet for feeling powerless.

Thankfully, Jason's school counselor recommended an Idaho Youth Ranch Equine Therapy Group for boys.

It wasn't until the horses reacted to his angry tone that he got it. One day while Jason tried to bully a horse named Red during an activity. Red gently nudged Jason, knocking him on his backside. At first, Jason was furious as the other kids laughed. Soon, however, he started laughing too. In his next attempt, Jason became aware of his body language and tone with Red.

Red responded in kind and allowed Jason to lead him through the exercise. That was a turning point for Jason.

By the end of the group, Jason realized how he was letting his father's behavior dictate his choices. Jason apologized to the kids he had bullied and has changed his behavior. He finished the school year with all As and Bs.

Thanks to you, Jason is more focused and on the path to a better future!

Out of 1,112 kids and families

You provided 223 kids like Jason with healing and hope through Equine Therapy.

Healing Through Proven Outpatient Therapies.

"I was crying every day. I never meant to have all this anxiety and depression. I hated that my teachers had to deal with me. I was just tired of feeling bad all the time. I just wanted to better myself. I never expected to come this far or that it would be this beneficial."

Mara spent the first three years of her life in the care of an addict. The toddler experienced such terrible neglect that she was taken into foster care.

She eventually went to live with her grandparents, where she stayed until she was thirteen. When she lost her grandfather, Mara began to spiral. She moved back in with her mother, who had been clean for several years. This ultimately led to more trauma when they became homeless on Mara's sixteenth birthday.

Fortunately, your support provided therapy in North Idaho schools, including the one Mara was attending. Her school counselor talked to her about therapy at Idaho Youth Ranch.

"I don't know how to thank you enough. I would never have been able to pay for therapy. I was on a dark path. I think I would have just given up on everything and let myself fall into drugs. Now I'm focused on school and bettering myself, and I know how to deal with everything that has happened. Now I am happy. I just ran a half-marathon, and I feel like I can do anything. I know how to find resources and ask for help. I'm so grateful not to be in that darkness anymore."
Out of 1,112 kids and their families

You provided 247 kids like Mara with healing and hope through individual, group, and family therapies.

Keeping More Kids Safe in 2021.

Melissa was kidnapped from her home in the state of Washington. The thirteen-year-old girl was terrified when she leaped from a moving vehicle and found herself in Idaho, where her abductor was passing through.

Melissa had grown up learning in school about Safe Place®—a network of trusted organizations that keep kids safe when they are in trouble. So Melissa made her way to a gas station and called the Safe Place® hotline, where they told her that Idaho had one designated Safe Place®—Idaho Youth Ranch.

Within hours, Melissa found herself shaken but safe in the care of expert therapists who helped her process the trauma she'd experienced while her parents rushed to retrieve their daughter.

This year, Idaho Youth Ranch Hays House became Idaho's only Safe Place®.

Melissa is one of the 91 kids served at Idaho Youth Ranch Hays House this year.

Your support provided 2,598 shelter nights to young people facing homelessness or who found themselves without anywhere to go.

Additionally, we were able to leverage Hays House so homeless children would have a place to attend virtual school.

Out of 1,112 kids and families

You provided 91 kids like Melissa healing and hope through 2,598 shelter days at Idaho Youth Ranch Hays House.

Hope For the Future in 2021.

"When I was younger, my mother dated a man . . . he would hurt me and made me stand with liquid soap in my mouth for hours. After that, me and my mother left. We were homeless and stayed at a homeless shelter."

Brady, 17, YOUTHWORKS!

For most kids, getting their first job is a normal part of growing up. However, for kids who have experienced trauma or grew up in environments that involve adversity, loss, abuse, or dysfunction in the home, getting and keeping a job can be a huge mountain to climb.

Your support brought our proven YOUTHWORKS! curriculum online to reach more kids. Over 200 kids participated in 6-week online workshops learning how to succeed in the workforce. In addition, our summer internship program in the Treasure Valley expanded to quarterly internships, including North Idaho.

For Brady, YOUTHWORKS! meant mentorship and trust. He learned how to manage his money and that where he came from did not have to determine where he was going. Today, Brady is going to college and forging his own path ahead using the tools he learned in YOUTHWORKS!

Thanks to you, despite the pandemic, 248 young people accessed job readiness workshops, one-on-one coaching, and career support including, 35 young people who got hands-on, paid experience, and mentorships in our Thrift Stores.

Out of 1,112 kids and families

You provided 248 kids like Brady with healing and hope through career readiness training and workshops.

Hope For the Future in 2021.

Mary was a very young woman when a positive pregnancy test changed her life. She had struggled with substance abuse her whole life and knew that she had to fight her own battles before she could raise a child. Mary loved her daughter enough to see that she couldn't be the mother her baby deserved. That's why she made the heart-wrenching decision to give her child up for adoption in 1992.

Twenty-nine years later, Katie spent her life looking for answers. Mary's hopes had come true, and Katie had grown up with wonderful, loving adoptive parents. Still, she always wondered why her birth mother gave her up.

Katie reached out to Idaho Youth Ranch Adoption Services to see if they could help her find her birth mother and answer some questions.

Mary was terrified that Katie would judge her for her early substance abuse and addiction. Katie was anxious about the reunion and if she would be able to finally get answers.

Thanks to you, Idaho Youth Ranch has connected Katie, her parents, and Mary. Our team of experts prepared all three parties for their meeting and has been able to provide ongoing support as they establish a relationship and find some peace.

Thanks to you, this story has a happy ending nearly three decades in the making.

Out of 1,112 kids and families

You provided 72 families with healing and hope through Adoption Services.

Shopping For Hope.

The faces in the red shirts stocking shelves, processing donations, and asking for round-ups are some of the most passionate advocates for Idaho's kids in our organization. Our thrift team of more than 350 people rallied to keep our stores going throughout an incredibly challenging year.

Despite all the obstacles that we've faced since last July, Idaho Youth Ranch Thrift Store team members have worked diligently so we can help more kids. Their incredible efforts have helped our donors' support go further by supporting our operations.

Idaho Youth Ranch Thrift Stores generated record revenue despite unprecedented challenges, and no one was laid off because of the pandemic.

350 thrift store employees generated over $4M in revenue, including $344,900 in round-up donations.

Thank you to our friends at Idaho Central Credit Union who match round-up donations made by shoppers at Idaho Youth Ranch Thrift Stores!

Coming Together For Healing & Hope.

Thank you to our sponsors!

The true measure of a community is how they take care of their most vulnerable.

In May and June of 2021, dozens of businesses and hundreds of community members from throughout Idaho came together to support Idaho's kids at our annual galas in Boise and Coeur d'Alene. Their combined support raised nearly $450,000 to provide healing and hope for Idaho's most vulnerable youth and families.

Idaho Kids Need Our Help

Idaho high school girls (23.2%) has experienced sexual violence.

Idaho children lives with someone struggling with mental illness or substance abuse.

Idaho kids has at least one parent who has served time in jail.

Idaho children has witnessed domestic violence.

Idaho high school students experience signs of depression.

Idaho high school students has considered suicide.

Idaho high school students has attempted suicide.

Source: Centers for Disease Control, 2019

In 1997, the Centers for Disease Control and Kieser Permanente did a landmark study. They asked 17,000 adults about adversity they might have experienced during childhood. This study later came to be known as the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) study.

We learned that when kids experience early adversity, their bodies develop to prepare for battle everyday. It affects them in school, it affects their behavior, and it affects their health.

Idaho's kids are at particular risk. The prevalence of kids in Idaho with ACE scores of 4 or more is nearly twice the national average. There are only five states with higher rates of ACEs than Idaho. Our kids are struggling, and they need our help right now.

Here's the good news.

Evidence-based, trauma-informed outpatient therapies like those we use at Idaho Youth Ranch can help these kids. By getting them the right kind of care by caring adults, these kids can learn to heal from their experiences and lead healthy, resilient lives.

However, an unseen group of these kids need a higher level of care than is currently available to them in Idaho.

Today, there are over 120 kids on Medicaid, along with dozens more whose families had the resources to pay for care, who were sent out of state because there was nowhere in Idaho for them to go.

Bringing Idaho’s Kids Home.

Imagine you are a young person who has grown up with trauma. You feel angry and scared. You don't know how to manage or understand the weight of the emotions you are feeling. You start spiraling into destructive behaviors because it feels good not to have to feel anymore. You tried counseling, but you are one of the few who need more. You start to feel hopeless and broken.

Finally, someone tells you that your best chance is residential care, but there is nowhere in Idaho for you to go.

Now, on top of already feeling lost and broken, you are sent out of state to heal far away from your family, friends, and support system.

“Idaho Youth Ranch has a legacy of helping Idaho's most vulnerable kids and families transform childhood trauma into hope, healing, and resilience. That's what we've done for nearly 70 years. Now, we can lead the region in care for our kids in a place that feels like home. The campus is everything great about Idaho, where young people will live in a beautiful setting and, rather than feeling punished for their trauma, feel supported."

—Scott Curtis, CEO

This is the experience for hundreds of Idaho kids every year. Unfortunately, their chances of success and long-term healing drop drastically because of limited family involvement and aftercare support. They lose access to trusted friends and adults and are disrupted in school.

In June 2020, thirteen Idaho leaders and the Idaho Youth Ranch Board of Directors decided something had to be done. It was then that, despite a pandemic, we launched the Capital Campaign to Bring Idaho's Kids Home. Between June 2020 and March 2021, Idaho's business leaders, individuals, families, and organizations came together to raise over $18M to break ground on the Idaho Youth Ranch Residential Center for Healing & Resilience.

The new center will be a 64-bed, best-in-class, long-term residential treatment facility for kids here in Idaho. Now kids will be able to heal close to home where their parents can be involved. They will be surrounded by caring, trauma-informed staff with everything they need to heal.

A Place For Healing & Hope.

This healing, 258-acre rural setting will offer a facility to support the physical, emotional, and educational needs of the children and teens who come with the unique challenges of overcoming early childhood trauma.

  • 64 beds serving over 100 kids per year
  • Year-round school
  • Individual and group therapy spaces
  • Dining hall
  • Indoor/outdoor recreation spaces
  • Health center
  • Aftercare for kids and families
  • 258 acres of woods, pastures, streams, and ponds

The Best is Yet to Come for Our Kids!

Opening Spring 2023

From July 2020 to March 2021, Idaho's business leaders, individuals, families, and organizations came together to raise over $18M to break ground on the Idaho Youth Ranch Residential Center for Healing & Resilience.

In May, we announced a $2M matching gift from the Tomlinson Family Foundation, J.R. Simplot Company Foundation, and Duane & Lori Stueckle to help us launch the public campaign to Bring Idaho's Kids Home.

By June 30, 2021, the campaign had raised over $22M to bring Idaho's kids home leaving us with less than $6M to raise.

We are on track to complete construction and open our doors by late 2022 or early 2023.

"Right now, it’s clear we have 100% problem. We need to support getting to 100% solution."

Duane & Lori Stueckle

Financials

Healing & Hope for Kids Throughout Idaho.

Thanks to the incredible support of our donors, volunteers, and supporters and the careful stewardship of our resources, Idaho Youth Ranch was able to break ground on the Idaho Youth Ranch Residential Center for Healing & Resilience while still helping kids through our statewide network of services.

This year was a record year in many ways, but what we learned is that when adversity comes, we and our advocates, like our kids, are resilient.

Thank you for uniting with us in Fiscal Year 2021 (July 2020-June 2021) and standing by Idaho’s most vulnerable youth.

Thank You to Our Corporate Sponsors.

A big part of what makes Idaho so great is the companies that call it home. Our corporate partners are Idaho companies that take particular pride in investing in the communities in which they live and work so we can create a better future for everyone.

Thank You to Our Partners and Foundations.

CarMax Foundation

The CDM Fund in the Idaho Community Foundation

City of Coeur d'Alene HUD Community Development Block Grant

Coldwell Banker Schneidmiller Realty

Coeur d'Alene Garbage

ES-0-EN Management LLC

Family and Youth Services Bureau Runaway and Homeless Youth Program

The Gibney Family Foundation

The Gladys E. Langroise Advised Fund in the Idaho Community Foundation

Graham and Ruby Delaet Foundation

Hawkins Family Foundation

Idaho Council on Domestic Violence and Victim Assistance

lnnovia Foundation

J.A. and Kathryn Albertson Family Foundation

J.R. Simplot Company Foundation

John Rudolf Family Foundation

The Kissler Family Foundation Philanthropic Gift Fund in the Idaho Community Foundation

Larry H. and Gail Miller Family Foundation

Marie Crowley Foundation

M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust

The Micron COVID Relief Fund in the Idaho Community Foundation

Micron Technology Foundation

Panhandle Cone & Coffee

Richard B. Siegel Foundation

Scentsy

The Statewide Education Philanthropic Gift Fund in the Idaho Community Foundation

Tomlinson Family Foundation

United Way of Treasure Valley

Vine & Olive

The Whittenberger Foundation

We unite for Idaho's youth by providing accessible programs and services that nurture hope, healing, and resilience.

Board of Directors

Leroy D. Custer, Chair

Harry Amend

Camille Andersen

Henry Atencio

Jim Bratnober

Angie Harrison

Sheila Hennessey

Jim Johnston, MD

Brinnon Garrett Mandel

Tim Reid

Rick Rietmann

Leanne Rousseau, MD

Brian J. Scott

Chris Taylor

Deanna Turner

Josh Tyree

Julie VanOrden

Ron Ashley, Director Emeritus