Brookings County Youth Mentoring Program

06/03/2026

TOMORROW! 💙🌞

There’s still time to get involved! 🌱

Brookings Professional Network’s Community Engagement Service Project is coming up on Thursday, June 4th, and we’re looking for volunteers to help refresh one of Brookings’ Born Learning Trails at Hillcrest Park.

This is a great opportunity to give back, connect with other professionals, and support a community resource that promotes learning, imagination, and outdoor exploration for children and families across Brookings County.

🕘 Flexible shifts available from 9:00 AM – 3:00 PM
📍 Hillcrest Park

Whether you can volunteer for an hour or stay longer, every helping hand makes a difference.

👉 Sign up today: https://form.jotform.com/251556386448064

06/02/2026

***COMPLETE A REGISTRATION FORM FOR EACH CHILD**

06/02/2026

05/26/2026

Good luck to these ladies! Earlier this month, we were lucky enough to meet a few of these amazing young women as well as Miss South Dakota during our Crowned Conversations event at BCYMP. We loved learning more about the Miss South Dakota opportunity and hearing about the hard work, dedication, leadership, and service that goes into being a titleholder. Thank you for sharing your experiences and expanding our knowledge about what each of you do! We are cheering all of you on this week!

05/20/2026

We are at BFest tonight in Bruce! Come say hi 👋

05/18/2026

Congrats to the High School graduates, Class of 2026!! You should be so proud of all you've accomplished! Shoutout to the students who were part of BCYMP at some point in their academic journey. We are cheering you on as you begin your next chapter and can't wait to see all the amazing things ahead for you!

Feel free to send us a message or email and let us know what you’re up to; we would absolutely love to hear from our bcymp alumni!

05/14/2026

🦷 Healthy smiles matter! The Delta Dental Mobile Program is returning to Brookings County and providing FREE dental care for anyone age 0 - 21!

Appointments still available: 📅 June 2nd and December 7th - 8th. To schedule an appointment, dial 2-1-1 to connect with the Helpline Center.

For questions, call 605-692-4979 or visit us at 908 Hope Drive, Brookings, SD.

05/14/2026

05/13/2026

BCYMP is proud to be a part of this group!

We are excited to introduce Nancy Rasmussen, our Generosity Project winner!

Nancy brings 22 years of painting experience and has received multiple awards for her artwork over the years. While she primarily focuses on abstract art, she also enjoys creating realism pieces. During her presentation, Nancy showcased four paintings titled On Our Way, Love Grows Here, The Good Stuff, and Lifting Love.

She shared that she utilized six colors throughout the collection and intentionally focused on shadows while creating each piece. Nancy also explained that she often paints multiple versions of a concept to experiment with different techniques and ideas as her work evolves.

For this project, the members of BCNP submitted words through a form that fit with their nonprofits missions and visions. All of the words were collected and the 6 most submitted words were chosen. Artists from all over submitted their ideas related to these words and Nancy was chosen as the winner.

Her creativity, passion, and dedication to her craft truly reflect the spirit of the Generosity Project. Congratulations, Nancy!

05/08/2026

Over the past two weeks, we’ve said so many hard goodbyes to our graduating SDSU Mentors, JYMC Leadership members, and Office Volunteers 💙 ... they deserve a LONG post. 💙💙

These incredible individuals have shown up for local youth and for BCYMP over the past year(s), building relationships that truly matter. They’ve mentored, volunteered behind the scenes, helped at events, supported our office, advocated for youth, and helped make BCYMP a bit better every day. Now, they're are stepping into exciting new chapters (!) becoming teachers, becoming counselors, heading to medical school, veterinary school, graduate programs, careers, and so many other amazing adventures. We could not be more proud of them.
At the same time, it's bittersweet..... every Match we create will eventually come to an end. Whether the Mentor is a college student, young professional, retired community member, or somewhere in between ... every mentoring relationship eventually closes, and it’s never easy. Because the truth is… we grow attached to and care deeply about the lives of our volunteers too.

To our graduating SDSU students who have mentored, volunteered, led, organized, encouraged, and supported BCYMP: THANK YOU. Thank you for sharing your time, heart, encouragement, talents, leadership, and energy with local youth and with our staff. You have made an impact on this program, on our community, and most importantly, on the young people you walked alongside.

We know you will continue to do incredible things wherever life takes you next.

YOU GOT THIS. 💙
Go be the amazing people we already know you are!!!

🥹😭🥹

And as this chapter closes, we now open the recruitment chapter for BCYMP..... Each Spring Semester, we average about 20 closed Matches ... which means we add many youth back onto our waitlist while we search for their next caring adult Mentor. So now, we are looking for the next group of committed volunteer Mentors ready to make a difference. If that could be you, we'd love to hear from you! 💙