Youth Opportunity Center

11/09/2025

The votes are in! Thank you to all who voted for their favorite of our kids' pumpkin creations. Thanks also to Spangler Farms - visiting there for the pumpkins and straw has become our beginning-of-fall tradition.

11/07/2025

YOC has reopened the Emergency Shelter Program in Cottage 7, welcoming the first Delaware County youth on Tuesday. It has been a long road of building renovations, staffing, program planning, and multiple inspections. Like everyone else, we wish that no kids needed this type of program. But, we're glad we can help care for the kids who do.

10/31/2025

Help us pick the:

1. Scariest
2. Cutest
3. Most Creative
4. Best Overall

Pumpkins! All original creations of our awesome kids! They had a great day trick-or-treating around campus. Staff were visited by a serious looking security detail (that brought to mind the Blues Brothers for some of the older set), a Golden-Girls like assortment of distinguished older ladies, some superheroes and even a dinosaur or two. A karaoke contest, some basketball, family visits and then in for dinner which will likely be followed with some choice selections from the treat bags.

Comment below with your votes and we'll let you know the winners!

10/09/2025

A beautiful Fall day in Indiana, a hayride, picking pumpkins, cold cider slushies, warm apple donuts, and YOC staff making sure our kids get a real Fall Break. We hope your Thursday morning was this good.

08/10/2025

YOC's 20th Annual Golf Classic is a month away! Visit www.yocinc.org/golf for team registration and sponsorship opportunities. The event is YOC's largest fundraiser of the year and supports supplemental services and opportunities for our kids. We hope to see you there!

05/31/2025

This week, a young man successfully competed his treatment program and moved on to the next stage of his life journey. His placing agent wrote to tell our team who worked with him "I was very pleased with the treatment and care provided by the YOC. You have a great program and I look forward to working with you in the future!"

Another youth earned his HSE Diploma.

This was also the last week of school, marked by a Field Day on campus, games, hotdogs, and a bunch of kids enjoying the spectacular end-of-the-week weather.

We hope your summer is off to a great start as well.

05/08/2025

Rob Helber (left) is the manager of YOC's SMART program, a boy's residential program. John McClanahan is a Home-Based Case Manager with Family Beacon, YOC's family preservation program. They both have years of experience improving the lives of kids and families. In their spare time, they have also been earning graduate degrees from Indiana Wesleyan: Rob in Public Administration and John in Clinical Addictions Counseling. We're all proud of the work they do, and for the examples they set.

12/24/2024

This season has seen supporters shop for our kids (as they have the past 15 Christmases!), a wonderful holiday party for the Therapeutic Day School students and their families, staff and their families gathering for a holiday luncheon, and even some snow. Yesterday the Family Preservation Teams covered most of East-Central Indiana distributing gifts, from Muncie to Wi******er to close to Ft. Wayne. Our kids on campus today are making Christmas cookies and rumor has it that there are some special dishes on the menu tomorrow (and maybe some wrapped presents hiding out in an attic here and there). Those who work or volunteer at YOC or one of our partner agencies, buy gifts, or make a contribution have made some kids a little bit happier and healthier. They'll remember that people cared about them, even people they haven't met.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

11/10/2024

Having sausage gravy and biscuits on a rainy Sunday morning isn't a state law, but probably should be.

10/27/2024

09/09/2024

Team spots are still available at www.yocinc.org/golf
We appreciate our 2024 Marquee Sponsors and can't wait to see everyone this Friday at Player's Club!

09/08/2024

Ongoing training and development efforts are critical to our work. The challenges facing the kids and families we work with are both timeless and as rapidly evolving as our fast-paced world. Some of our awesome staff recently attended the Indiana Youth Services Association (IYSA) annual Youth Worker Development Retreat. Pictured here are RaeAnn Lovell, Shaila Faletogo, Demetrius Bilbrey, Brooke Burgess, and Sydney Girardot. We appreciate our supporters who allow us to improve our services through these professional development experiences.