Serve Our Youth Network

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Serve Our Youth Network ( SOY ) was created in 1999 in response to an invitation by the Polk County Youth Services Administrator to explore how the faith community could be equipped to positively impact the high-risk youth served by Juvenile Court, Department of Human Services and other Des Moines area agencies. With the help of a local Reformed Church of America pastor and a small network of churches, SOY began recruiting, training and screening volunteers from across south central Iowa to serve these youth. Since SOY began in 1999, it has equipped and supported over 1, 000 active volunteers. SOY is currently partnering with 75 churches from over 22 different denominations. Since its inception in Polk County, SOY has expanded its services in institutional settings and to provide community-based one-to-one mentoring throughout Central and Southern Iowa. In 2004, SOY received its first large three year federal grant. This project has teamed up the Department of Corrections, Angel Tree, Mentor Iowa, and SOY to provide mentors from the Des Moines area faith community to children of prisoners. In addition, June of 2005 brought word that SOY has been awarded another large three year federal grant through the U.S. Department of Education ( ended in 2008 ). In 2007, SOY was awarded a second Mentoring Children of Prisoner grant from the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services after the original grant from 2004 had expired. In 2009 we were awarded a Second Chance Juvenile Mentoring Initiative grant through the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention ( part of the U.S. Department of Justice ) that funds our Second Chance Juvenile Mentoring Initiative. We also received a subcontract award through Amachi which funds our Amachi Mentoring program. These grants have been a blessing and has allowed SOY to extend its reach with community-based mentoring. Our visitation and chaplaincy ministries within different juvenile facilities are still almost entirely funded through private funding through individuals, churches and businesses.