The Y.E.S. Project continues to meet or exceed the goals and objectives set forth in our three-year plan to improve the capacity of our partners. In review, Year One focused on Assessment, Year Two on Program Development and Year Three (current) on sustainability. Our report reflects the rhythm of our partners who work with youth in after-school programming, meaning that most of the training and technical assistance and financial assistance occurs in those periods when school is out: Christmas, spring, fall, and summer breaks. It is these times that partner staff are able to come together for training and technical assistance and to assist with decisions about financial assistance. Most of the work accomplished by the Y.E.S. Project is during the longest school break in the summer months. This is when the Summer Conference is held and the group has an extended period to reflect, review and improve for the coming school year.

The Y.E.S. Project partners met on a regular basis to work together to improve capacity for sustainability during the first half of the project year but then chose to have more individualized sessions. In response, the Y.E.S. project realigned to deliver more on-site individualized technical assistance for the remainder of 2008 and spring 2009. Since the third year of the Y.E.S. Project was designed to spotlight sustainability, subsequent technical assistance featured organizational branding and marketing, fund/fundraising planning and board development. This outreach and marketing strategy builds on the previous year's work of developing youth programs by engaging the partners' youth to produce videos about their lives and communities. The video project has enhanced the marketing and outreach capacity of partners with tools created from the point of view of the youth stakeholders. The current focus for Y.E.S. Project staff/consultants include onsite visits to provide technical assistance with film projects, grant writing support, leadership development, etc. Targeted support and technical assistance will enable the three smaller groups to attain 501(c)(3) certification. The Y.E.S. Project has achieved a level of collaboration not previously present in this group, enabling the group to continue to meet and learn from each other beyond the project end.

The Y.E.S. Project has worked to continue a high level of engagement for the partnership. However, it was a disappointment when Heartland Youth Services voted to cease operations in their respective communities. The Y.E.S. Project partnership lost valuable community services and geographic coverage when this occurred. One of the partners, while still officially listed as a partner, does not participate at the same level as the others. There has been no disagreement but it was noted by Thom Campbell at our last monitoring visit, that this group “does not feel that they need capacity building assistance.” It is true that this group maintains a high capacity level.

The Y.E.S. Project anticipates the summer conference will be a success with the partners fully engaged in learning about fundraising, funding planning and sustainability. The theme will be “Y.E.S. Project Summer Roundup” and it will be held at a nearby state park facility. Featured speakers are Michael Kaiser of the Alliance for CyberSecurity, Stan Pryor, presenting on working with youth who have disabilities, and James Howard, who will speak on Community Foundations. The response has been positive and the partners expect to plan for continued contact beyond the project as a way to continue to build their individual and collective capacity for the future.