Texas Network of Youth Services

The mission of Texas Network of Youth Services (TNOYS) is to promote excellence in youth service organizations through support, training & advocacy. We focus on supporting the direct care infrastructure of those agencies working with vulnerable youth. We have a constituency of about 450 agencies that serve: • Runaway and homeless youth; • Youth and families in crisis; • Youth living in communities with high juvenile crime rates; • Youth living in residential treatment centers and residential child care centers (Typically, these children have been removed from their homes for reasons of child abuse or neglect); and, • Older youth who are aging out of foster care and need support to prepare for living as an independent adult. Like most organizational networks, TNOYS supports the infrastructure of its many members; mostly nonprofit agencies struggling to serve their communities with shrinking resources. While other networks bolster the executive level, our emphasis is on equipping front-line staff with necessary skills and cutting edge interventions required to help these children and youth overcome the disadvantaged circumstances that otherwise would adversely influence their life chances forever. Directly benefiting youth, TNOYS provides therapeutic camp experiences and other youth engagement and enrichment programs employing a positive youth development approach, one that celebrates each youth’s unique talents, skills, abilities and future potential.