St. Paul Youth Services began over thirty years ago as the St. Paul Youth Service Bureau. Planning for the agency was initiated by a collaboration consisting of the St. Paul Mayor’s Office, City Council, St. Paul Police Department and neighborhood activists. The goal was to provide community-based alternatives for youth involved with the juvenile justice system.

This planning was a result of federal initiatives that developed goals for newly emerging issues in the juvenile justice system, including the restriction that youth only be placed in locked facilities for committing criminal offenses. This created a need to develop community-based alternatives to deal with other high-risk behaviors. One federal proposal suggested the establishment of “Youth Service Bureaus” as a response to these changes. Many such agencies were developed around the country with specific community input. Such was the case in St. Paul. With start-up funds coming from a federal Law Enforcement Assistance Administration (LEAA) grant, these planning efforts launched the St. Paul Youth Service Bureau in late 1972 as a department of the City of St. Paul.

The early structure of the organization consisted of neighborhood offices staffed by one or two youthworkers who provided outreach and intervention services for youth identified by schools, police, courts and community agencies. A central office was first located downtown at the St. Paul Police Department headquarters with staff reporting to then Deputy Chief Bill McCutcheon. In 1978 the St. Paul Youth Service Bureau separated from its formal relationship with the city and incorporated as a private non-profit agency.

Over the years, the structure of the organization further developed with a growing emphasis on specific programs targeted to issues that were of concern to the community. The first of these was the Diversion Program for first-time offenders. This program began in the late 1970’s as staff met daily with officers from the St. Paul Police Department’s Juvenile Unit and received referrals of youth that had been identified for diversion from the juvenile justice system.

The CrossStreets Program (precursor to the Children's Crisis Response) began in 1986 with a federal grant. This new program provided immediate response and crisis intervention services for runaway and homeless youth and their families. Originally, the program recruited volunteer foster families to provide short-term shelter for runaway youth. In 1993, the program began to collaborate more closely with Ramsey County Children's Mental Health and eventually merged with the County's crisis program to become the Children's Crisis Response.

In 1987 the St. Paul Youth Service Bureau celebrated its 15th anniversary with Governor Rudy Perpich signing the CHIPS (Children in Need of Protective Services) legislation, a bill authored by St. Paul Senators Sandy Pappas and Dick Cohen.

Board and staff initiated planning efforts in 1998 to increase the visibility of the organization in the community. This led to a change in the name from St. Paul Youth Service Bureau to St. Paul Youth Services, with the tag line: “Turning high risk into high hopes.”

In 1999, the All Children Excel Program was launched in collaboration with Ramsey County. Children who are 6-9 years old and at highest risk for becoming chronic violent juvenile offenders are provided with long-term intensive case management services. The goals of this program are to reduce risk factors in the child’s life and promote healthy behaviors.

St. Paul Youth Services has worked with St. Paul Public Schools throughout the 30 years of its existence. Over time this has meant providing support and/or educational groups in schools, intervening with youth who are having behavioral problems and addressing the needs of youth who are truant. In 2000, the agency became part of the Safe Schools/Healthy Students Initiative. One of the many support services provided by this collaboration was an effort to provide middle schools with alternatives to suspending students who had engaged in violent or other inappropriate behavior in school.  This launched the Behavior Intervention Program which is now provided at Battle Creek, Cleveland and Washington Middle Schools.

Through all of these developments over thirty years, there are several characteristics of St. Paul Youth Services that have remained constant. They are:

1. Our mission has always been to intervene early with youth in order to prevent their involvement with the juvenile justice system.
   
2. Our staff have always been recognized by the community for their integrity and commitment.
   
3. Our identity has always been defined as a community-based alternative to traditional systems.
   
4. Our relationships with the St. Paul Police Department, St. Paul Public Schools and Ramsey County have been critical to our success with youth and families.