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YOUTH SERVICES NETWORK |
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| Youth Services Network Contacts: Allegany County, Frederick County, Garrett County, Washington County | ||
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YOUTH SERVICES NETWORK |
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| Youth Services Network Contacts: Allegany County, Frederick County, Garrett County, Washington County | ||
OVERVIEW
The Subcabinet for Children, Youth and Families issued
a call for proposals to initiate a Community Services Initiative – In State
(CSI-IS) program for the purpose of “broadening return and diversion services
to those youth placed in or at risk of
placement in in-state residential facili
ties.”
Grants are available on a one-time-only basis to seed community-based resource
development projects.
Local Management Boards or a coalition of LMBs who
fit the definition of a community are the only eligible applicants. For
purposes of the grant “community” was defined “an area or region of the
state where regional commonality of need exists and the capacity to develop
a full continuum of services within a single county is not feasible.”
Western Maryland Partnership:
In response to the Notice of Availability of Funds, the four westernmost
counties each developed separate, but similar propo
sals.
After several regional meetings, representatives of Local Management Boards
in Allegany, Garrett, Washington and Frederick decided to form a Western
Maryland Partnership and to submit a unified application for the establishment
of a regional Youth Services Network.
Development of the Youth Services Network:
In response to needs identified by each jurisdiction, the partners developed
an overall mission statement, five broad goal areas for resource development
and a proposal for the initial projects to be implemented through the Youth
Services Network. Pending awarding 
of
funds, a series of rotating regional meetings with family member representation
will be held on a bimonthly basis. The morning sessions will focus on training
and information sharing. Tours of local facilities will be scheduled for
the afternoon sessions.
The Western Maryland Partnership will be formalized
through memorandums of understanding between participating Local Management
Boards. Statistical process control – tracking of results – will be emphasized
and course corrections will be data-driven. In addition to preventing out
of home placements, and developing funding mechanisms to best serve youth
in the community, the development of a longitudinal study to document long-term
outcomes for youth served is a proposed project activity
GOALS
YSN Goal 1.To identify, enhance,
develop and coordinate regional short-term crisis facilities for youth
in the target population. The target population for the Youth Services
Network are youth ages 8-17 (or up to age 21 with special needs) residing
in the Western Maryland region who are:
a) at risk of placement in a residential facility or
b) currently placed in a residential treatment facility.
YSN Goal 2. To identify, enhance, develop and coordinate quality community-based services for at-risk youth, with an emphasis on identifying and treating youth that have mental health, substance abuse and/or sexual deviance issues.
YSN Goal 3. To improve services for target youth by addressing identified training needs of local providers.
YSN Goal 4. To sustain the Youth Services Network by identifying, accessing and coordinating flexible funding mechanisms that maximizes achievement of treatment/family support goals.
YSN Goal 5. (Process Measure) To set up a system to track short-term and long-term outcomes for youth that are served by the Western Maryland Youth Services Network.
PROJECTS