BIG SKY YOUTH EMPOWERMENT PROJECT INC
Get Outside. Grow Inside.
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
Big Sky Youth Empowerment (BYEP) was incorporated in 2001 to address the need for creative, preventive, and strength based programming for vulnerable teenagers residing in Gallatin County, Montana. As an organization, we believe that vulnerable, or 'at-risk' teenagers constitute a valuable and underserved segment of our community. Consistent with youth across the nation, a number of adolescents living in Gallatin County, Montana are faced with dynamic barriers to success and challenged with circumstances outside of their control. Risk factors include adverse childhood trauma caused by family members (abuse, family in trouble with the law, neglect), environment (living within the foster care system, exposure to domestic violence, exposure to substance abuse), and instability (low income, frequent relocation). BYEP is proven to decrease problem behavior, develop character, and catalyze potential in vulnerable teenagers.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
BYEP Tutoring
BYEP offers an optional tutoring program for our participants twice a week during the school year from 4:00 - 7:00 p.m. Transportation, a snack, a safe space to work, and volunteers are available for support.
Traverse Program
The Traverse Program was launched in 2021 and serves 7th and 8th graders. By expanding its programming to include a younger demographic, BYEP is now able to provide group mentoring and experiential learning opportunities for youth as they begin to face the challenges of their teenage years. The program facilitates opportunities to decrease problem behavior, develop character, and catalyze potential. In these first two years of the program youth our participants learn what it means to support and be supported by their peers. In order to accomplish this, the participants are immersed in consistent experiential adventures and weekly social-emotional wellness workshops.
Approach Program
The Approach Program continues the goals of the Traverse Program while encouraging youth to dig deeper on their own personal values, relationships, and development. This program serves youth in grades 9-10. In these first two years of high school the youth participate in experiential adventures and weekly wellness workshops. The lessons and skills learned here become ingrained and generalized to other contextual environments leading to lasting behavior change.
Crux Program
The Crux Program, for 11th and 12th graders, is a continuation of the Traverse and Approach mentoring programs. In the Crux Program we overlay the social skills learned in the Traverse and Approach programs while introducing independent living skills, employment skills, and preparing for life after high school. Our goal is to equip the youth with the skills to make educated decisions towards an empowered and independent future.
Ascent Program
Our new Ascent Program begins after high school graduation, with the goal of helping our new graduates break down the barriers to actionable plans after high school. The Ascent program provides 6 months of mentorship that is individualized to each young adult and their goals for independence. Ascent participants are seeking higher education, apprenticeships, or full-time employment or service while continuing to receive the social-emotional group support critical to their transition to adulthood.
Where we work
Awards
Bozeman Beautification Award 2021
Bozeman Beautification Advisory Board
External reviews
Photos
Videos
Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Hours of mentoring
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Adolescents
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Holding steady
Context Notes
Our volunteer mentors commit to 12 weeks of programming for 10 hours a week each season (Winter, Summer, Fall).
Number of mentors recruited
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Adolescents
Type of Metric
Input - describing resources we use
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Number of mentors per year. Mentors are recruited for each season (Winter, Summer, Fall) and often return for additional seasons (66% average retention rate for mentors).
Number of youth who plan to attend post-secondary education
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Adolescents
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Holding steady
Context Notes
Average number of participants each season that report they plan on going to college.
Number of youth who volunteer/participate in community service
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Adolescents
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Holding steady
Context Notes
Average number of youth per season (Winter, Summer, Fall). Each season we have built into our curriculum activities in which youth participate in community service.
Our Sustainable Development Goals
Learn more about Sustainable Development Goals.
Goals & Strategy
Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
Big Sky Youth Empowerment provides opportunities for vulnerable teenagers from Gallatin County, Montana to experience success with the goal of becoming contributing members of the community. We evaluate youth outcomes as well as their level of satisfaction with our program at the end of every session in which youth engage with us. Along with a pre-evaluation, that constitutes 19 evaluations over the course of a participant’s enrollment with us over six years. Using the Search Institute's Developmental Assets Profile, we measure our youth's internal strengths and external supports, and their growth in these key areas over time. The Developmental Asset Profile is a reliable and valid assessment of the strengths, supports, and social and emotional factors that are essential for young people’s success in school and life. The data that results from these evaluations is used to strengthen our curriculum and provide focus for interventions with specific youth.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
Our program is similar to other mentoring programs in so far as we target similar age groups with a target population of 'at-risk' youth. We differentiate from these organizations by way of exposure, training, intentionality, and evaluation. Our program success lies in our massive exposure to the young person's life. A youth engaged in our program will take part in 360 hours/year of programming. Multiply that by 6 years and our impact multiplies at a common factor.
After a successful programmatic expansion that will be complete in 2021, BYEP will have grown to serve up to 176 adolescents in grades 7 through 6 months post high school graduation from our growing Gallatin County. Our program’s 18 sessions over the course of 6 years constitute a three part intervention. The first program component is broken into two groups, grade 7-8 known as 'The Traverse' and grades 9-10 known as ‘The Approach.’ This portion of the program engages the teens in both outdoor adventures and character education. Our curriculum covers developmentally appropriate topics such as conflict resolution, trust and teamwork, communication, identity, healthy relationships, suicide awareness, drug education, and sexual reproductive health.
The second component (grades 11-12) known as ‘The Crux’ is a continuation of the Traverse and Approach mentoring program although we overlay the social skills learned in Traverse and Approach while introducing independent living skills, employment skills, and preparing for life after high school.
Our new ‘Ascent’ program begins after high school graduation, with the goal of helping our new graduates break down the barriers to actionable plans after high school. The Ascent provides mentorship that is individualized to each young adult and their goals for independence. Ascent participants are seeking higher education, apprenticeships, or full-time employment or service while continuing to receive the social-emotional group support critical to their transition to adulthood.
In addition to our core programming, BYEP provides an optional Tutoring program three nights per week.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
Established during the summer of 2001, Big Sky Youth Empowerment's philosophy to make decisions based upon what is in the best interest of the youth we serve has never wavered. While this may seem simplistic, the organization believes that this philosophy is one of its core assets. Because decisions are guided, and relationships are forged, with a firm understanding that the organization exists to ensure youth become actively engaged, contributing members of the community, mission accomplishment has become ongoing and regularly attainable.
With that said, Big Sky Youth Empowerment cannot exist without volunteers. Our most important human resource remains the volunteer mentors that support our programs on a seasonal basis. As Big Sky Youth Empowerment has grown to serve additional youth, our need for volunteer mentors has also grown and they have been identified as a key competitive advantage. As such Big Sky Youth Empowerment has dedicated resources to their recruiting, training, and appreciation. The program managers who work directly with the mentors and youth are all dedicated and educated youth care workers supervised, trained, and supported by our licensed program director.
Our board of directors is actively involved in program review as well as fundraising and long term organizational strategy. The organization has forged a number of community partnerships over the past 20 years. Of extreme importance is the positive relationship with the local school districts. Formal memorandums of understanding signed with both districts allow for easy communications to occur between the schools and Big Sky Youth Empowerment. Additionally, we have a strong working relationship with the local youth probation office where information is allowed to flow freely as a result of parental permission to release confidential information.
Our dedication to continual feedback from our constituency, coupled with continuing education about nonprofit management and program delivery, places our organization as a front runner with regard to interventions designed to engage at risk youth.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
During the past five years we've increased our annual enrollment from 86 to 150 youth and increased total donated volunteer hours from 10,920 to 14,400. We also increased total program hours offered from 32,950 in 2015 to 38,610 in 2020.
We expanded our staff from 6 to 11 FTE which included the hiring of a Program Director, an Operations Manager, and a Grants and Data Manager.
Since 2015 we have introduced additional program components that are in direct service to our youth, including our Summer Works Program, expanded our reach to include Manhattan school district students, and implemented an optional tutoring program.
We have designed and maintained a formal participant and volunteer database, increased professional development for all staff, performed a safety audit, maintained formal memorandums of understanding with the local education agencies, decreased our board of directors size from 17 to 11, moved to a larger facility which allows for all programming to be delivered in one location and developed an aggressive growth plan as a result of youth and community stakeholder feedback.
In 2019 we completed a complete renovation of our facilities, expanding from 2800 square feet to over 8,000. This renovation allowed us to accommodate additional youth participants, and we welcome our first cohort of 7th graders in January 2020! We now have a dedicated tutoring center and an elective space where we can provide our youth the opportunity to explore additional activities such as screen-printing, photography, and culinary skills.
Our strategic vision for the next five years is an exciting two-part plan! First, we are working to expand and consolidate our program here in Gallatin County. Our recent renovation is part of this strategic plan, and we are now in the final phases of expansion. In February of 2022 we hired a 6th program manager. This additional staff member will allow us to offer enrollment for 176 youth. The second step in our strategic plan is an expansion to serve additional Montana communities. This second expansion is currently in strategic planning phase.
How we listen
Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.
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How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?
To identify and remedy poor client service experiences, To identify bright spots and enhance positive service experiences, To make fundamental changes to our programs and/or operations, To inform the development of new programs/projects, To identify where we are less inclusive or equitable across demographic groups, To strengthen relationships with the people we serve, To understand people's needs and how we can help them achieve their goals
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Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?
We collect feedback from the people we serve at least annually, We aim to collect feedback from as many people we serve as possible, We take steps to ensure people feel comfortable being honest with us, We engage the people who provide feedback in looking for ways we can improve in response, We act on the feedback we receive
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What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?
It is difficult to get the people we serve to respond to requests for feedback, The people we serve tell us they find data collection burdensome, It is difficult to get honest feedback from the people we serve
Financials
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
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- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
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Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
BIG SKY YOUTH EMPOWERMENT PROJECT INC
Board of directorsas of 02/08/2024
Molly Wood
Melissa McKeithen
Jim Clubb
Hilary Morin
Wheelock Health PLLC
Robert Lateiner
Virga Capital
Ersin Ozer
Outlaw Partners
Katie Finch
Wendy Wigert
Montana Conservation Corps
Shantel Waller
Peter Mathieson
Fairview Capital
Bennett Kern
Board leadership practices
GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.
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Board orientation and education
Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? Yes -
CEO oversight
Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? Not applicable -
Ethics and transparency
Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? Yes -
Board composition
Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes -
Board performance
Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? Yes
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.
Leadership
The organization's leader identifies as:
Race & ethnicity
Gender identity
Transgender Identity
Sexual orientation
No data
Disability
Equity strategies
Last updated: 03/24/2021GuideStar partnered with Equity in the Center - an organization that works to shift mindsets, practices, and systems to increase racial equity - to create this section. Learn more
- We employ non-traditional ways of gathering feedback on programs and trainings, which may include interviews, roundtables, and external reviews with/by community stakeholders.
- We have long-term strategic plans and measurable goals for creating a culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.
- We have community representation at the board level, either on the board itself or through a community advisory board.
- We help senior leadership understand how to be inclusive leaders with learning approaches that emphasize reflection, iteration, and adaptability.
- We engage everyone, from the board to staff levels of the organization, in race equity work and ensure that individuals understand their roles in creating culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.