Youth, Family, & Clinical Services
Dear Friends,
“BFL touches the lives of more children than any agency in the St. Louis region. We served over 9,000 children last year. Jones and her team are “soldiers for youth,” fighting to love and support them; fighting all the opposing forces like poverty, drugs and violence that are working to steal their souls and steal their joys and hopes. Our goal is to produce well-rounded, educated, empowered and employed people.”
Miranda Jones – Interim COO and Vice President, Youth, Family, & Clinical Services
Erica Driver
Vice President of Youth, Family, & Clinical Services
Youth, Family & Clinical Services Leadership
Our mission is to empower youth and families through an engaging environment that offers education adventures in school, after school and out of school.
Youth, Family, & Clinical Programs
Viking Quest
After-School Enrichment Program
The Normandy Viking Quest/21st Century After-School Enrichment Program is free-of-charge and open to students in the Normandy School Collaborative. 21st Century provides a rich holistic after-school experience that is designed to enhance academic achievement. The program is funded by DESE 21st Century Community Learning Centers and is administered in cooperation with various community partners.
America Scores St. Louis
A BFL initiative seeks to empower students in urban communities using soccer, writing, creative expression, and
service-learning. With teamwork as the unifying value, America SCORES St. Louis inspires youth to lead healthy
lifestyles, be engaged students, and become agents of change in their communities.
Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP)
ACFP provides aid to child and adult care institutions and family or group day care homes for the provision of nutritious foods that contribute to the wellness, healthy growth, and development of young children, and the health and wellness of older adults and chronically impaired disabled persons.
Through CACFP, more than 4.2 million children and 130,000 adults receive nutritious meals and snacks each day as part of the day care they receive.
Students who participate in the Youth Passport to the Future, the Normandy afterschool program and BFL afterschool and summer programs receive hot, Nutritious meals, administered
by the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services (MDHSS) and funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
KUUMBA YOUTH PERFORMANCE ENSEMBLE
- K Y P E -
Better Family Life's Kuumba Youth Performance Ensemble (KYPE) is comprised of youth and young adults from the ages of 5-25 who travel throughout the region as ambassadors for the artistic cultural heritage of African and the African Diaspora. Socially relevant and entertaining productions are exhibitred through dance, drama, music, and poetry under the direction of Vivian Watt. KYPE is a component of Better Family Life's Youth, Family and Clinical Services Department and its the performance branch of the Youth Passport to the Future After School Program (YPTF). As a component of the YPTF after school program, students train throughout the week in the performance genres of dance, drama, poetry, vocal music and African Drumming while receiving homework assistance, hot nutritious meals, tobacco alcohol and other drum prevention classes, computer literacy, intramural sports and much more.
S.A.F.E. Passage Summer Camp
This program seeks to empower African-American youth to be active participants and leaders in the progress of their community. Grounded in the African concept that “it takes a village to raise a child;” the program seeks to assist parents in the development of healthy and productive children. Members will experience and participate in an intensive eight weeks of African and African-American students, Dance and Drama, field trips, arts and crafts, sports, swimming and much more.
Summer Job League
The Summer Job League is a workforce placement program that helps emerging workers (ages 16-24) earn workplace skill certificates and connect with area businesses. Youth gain real-world work experience while earning a paycheck, and supporting businesses access high-quality candidates at
NO cost!
Teen Pregnancy Prevention (Programs)
The program serves youth twelve thru eighteen years of age. Students attend the program Monday thru Thursday either in school or in a community based after school program. The goals of the program are to 1.) reduce teen pregnancy and 2.) reduce sexually-transmitted diseases/infection among teens. Funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Adolescent Health, BFL serves 2,000 youth from middle to high school.
Wellness and Clinical Services
This program is an intervention program designed to respond to the mental and physical health challenges of at-risk clients. The department, consist of licensed psychologists, licensed clinical social workers, and provisionally licensed mental health professionals, that offer counseling, crisis intervention, and clinical case management to youth, adults, and families. The program is funded by the St. Louis County Children’s Service Fund and the Missouri Work Assistance program.
Youth Passport to the Future - After School Program - CEBC
Youth Passport to the Future After-School Program at CEBC is a Missouri-licensed child care facility for students from kindergarten to high school.
Students attend the program Monday through Friday for three hours, between 2:30pm–6:30 pm depending on the location of their school.
Students participate in various activities such as computer literacy, cultural arts, dance and T.A.O.D (Tobacco, Alcohol, and Other Drugs) prevention classes. All activities are aligned with state academic standards and are designed to enhance academic achievement and provided fun, holistic opportunities for the development of character, community and creativity. Students attend field trips and also receive hot, nutritious meals daily. Portions of the program are currently being offered in Normandy School Collaborative as well as Northview, Fairview, Jennings Middle and High in the Jennings School District.
Funding is provided by Missouri DESE 21st Century Community Learning Centers, St. Louis Community Development Administration, and tuition. We are currently serving approximately 400 youth with after school services.
YOUTH LEADERSHIP ACADEMY
Better Family Life’s Youth Leadership Academy (YLA) builds the leadership skills and capacity of St. Louis Youth to weigh in on policies that impact their daily lives as youth in our community.
The Youth Leadership Academy aims to train youth in critical leadership competencies which will prepare them to work effectively with key stakeholders. Through experiential learning opportunities, inquiry skills and strategic communication, youth are better equipped to address the greatest challenges facing our city.
In addition to the leadership training, your child will also get a chance to participate in activities such as, the Teen Pregnancy and STD/HIV Prevention training, field trips around St. Louis, Dance and Drama courses, Swimming, Soccer, Basketball games, local college fairs and HBCU tours.