Youth Dynamics Announces Expansion Plans
"There's a lot of kids out there that need help."
That, said Youth Dynamics Incorporated Executive Director Peter Degel, is why a planned expansion at YDI's Alternative Youth Adventures in Boulder is a good idea.
YDI is preparing to do about $30-50,000 worth of renovations on Building 7 of the former Montana Developmental Center south campus, Degel told the Jefferson County Commission July 18. When completed, the renovations will allow the facility to open one more six-bedroom youth group home and two more eight-bedroom youth group homes, he said.
Degel said he wanted to inform the commission because YDI's mission and values include openness and working with the community. "I think we have proven ourselves to be good neighbors," he said.
The agency leases its Boulder buildings from the Jefferson Local Development Corporation, which manages the buildings on behalf of Jefferson County. The intent of the county in originally securing the buildings abandoned by the state and MDC was to encourage economic development rather than allowing the buildings on the edge of town to sit vacant as have other abandoned state buildings in Twin Bridges, for example.
Speaking with the commission last week, Degel indicated that the arrangement has been a successful one.
"It has been a real effective partnership," he said.
YDI, a statewide group serving the needs of youths, has about 150 employees, an $8.5 million budget and a $5.5 million payroll across the state now, including 26 employees in Boulder. With the expansion, the number of employees in Boulder should increase to about 50, with eighty percent earning in the range of $20,000-22,000 per year, he said.
Asked by the commission what the county could do to encourage the continued growth of YDI in Boulder, Degel said that attracting employees to work in Boulder has been somewhat of a challenge. "Our biggest frustration now is recruiting," he said. "I think affordable housing would help," he said, adding that the high price of fuel has not helped either. The JLDC is working on developing some affordable housing options, said Commissioner Tom Lythgoe.
Local resident Celia Wolny, who lives close to the facility, asked if the program would be accepting sex offenders and if any sex offenders would be placed in a separate wing or building or a locked-down location.
Degel said the program already accepts clients who are mildly to moderately "sexually reactive," often victims of sex abuse. He said the facility has no plans to change the type of clientele it accepts, noting that all of the clients are screened by a local committee under strict criteria.
Saying she had no concerns about the current clientele type, Wolny said she would want to be informed if the plans change. "As a member of the community, I would want to know what kind of clientele is there so I would be aware and be more comfortable with it," she said.
No changes in the clientele are anticipated, but if that happened, Degel said he would work to make the community aware. "We don't want to put anybody at risk," he said, adding that it would be bad for the agency's reputation, a reputation that YDI has worked hard to build.