YPN Resources

The statistics for the challenges facing urban youth are grim. Consider these:: Nearly 43 percent of urban teens drop out of high school; Three in 10 teen girls become pregnant by age 20. Teen moms are much more likely to drop out of high school and raise their children in poverty. Their children are two times more likely to be abused. Their sons more likely to end up incarcerated, and their daughters more likely to become teen mothers themselves.; Homicide and suicide are the second and third leading causes of death for teens ages 15-19. Nearly three-fourths of teen homicides stem from gang violence.; Can the Gospel and urban youth resources change these numbers? Yes.

Resources for children and youth, available thru YPN:: My City, My God (NIrV) New Testament
IBS-STL collaborated with YouthPartnersNET and our network of ministry partners serving urban youth to gather seven all-new testimonies from teens and Christian youth workers that have been published in this second edition, launched in February 2008. YPN has distributed over 15,000 copies of the original version since 2003 and are excited to offer this special YPN version to our network of ministry partners. In addition to providing one free case when ministry partners join the network, we distribute these Bibles at no cost as we receive grants specifically for our Urban Bible Fund. $2.50 or $100 per case of 40, plus shipping. Download Order Form; His Story
This beautifully-illustrated book was written by Beau Breems at 18 years old when two women from his church asked him to create something they could take on their mission trip to Africa that would minister to children and adults. Designed for urban children, it takes them through the creation, the fall, hope, Jesus' last week, betrayal, and the resurrection. $5 each, plus shipping. Download Order Form
Resources for ministries, available thru YPN:: Practical Guide to Ministry Fundraising
A Practical Guide to Ministry Fundraising is a great resource produced by the National Association of Street Schools. Each chapter in this manual will help bring into focus one aspect of a successful annual fundraising campaign including board development, donor relations, grant proposals, direct mail, and fundraising events. It is loaded with "how to's" and templates that will generate positive emotions about the profession of fundraising. $15 Download Order Form; Handbook - On Being a Board Member
This YPN-label handbook is published by JDLevy & Associates, author of one of the manuals issued with our Executive Director Leadership Training. This education guide is an excellent resource for all board members. It covers 17 important topics on what board membership means ranging from role and responsibilities to liability and fundraising. $10
Download Order Form
Download the Table of Contents; CAST: Effective Urban Ministry Through Suburban Partnerships
Written by YPN President Dean Cowles, CAST is an essential resources for your urban ministry. $15 Download Order Form

Education/Recreation Resources: Oakdale Christian Academy is a Christian boarding school in Jackson, KY that serves about 50 students annually. Their students come from a wide variety of risk factors including those experiencing home conflict and dysfunction, unhealthy community influences, poor academic performance and a downward spiral of bad decisions. They serve students nationally and have many urban students from Chicago, LA, Cincinnati, New York City and Washington DC. They offer tuition assistance for the families and provide an excellent academic and boarding program for teenagers with little hope. When the students arrive, they experience life transformation through the grace of God and the work of their staff.; Youth Resources exists for the advancement of urban youth and youth serving organizations to reduce crime, violence, illiteracy and fatherlessness. There are several book and internet resources available at this site.; UrbNet is a website full of resources that equip, empower and encourage urban youth leaders by linking relationships and providing relevant urban youth ministry resources.; Life After Birth provides fresh resources for urban youth outreach like: Life After Birth - a powerful Bible study series to reach teen and young moms at a time in their lives that they are likely to abandon the church. Another Boy from the Hood - a Bible study that contains real stories from young men whose lives have been radically changed by Christ.; Teaching Like Jesus Ministries provides easy-to-use resources for Christian teachers and volunteers, and one-day workshops and training.

Training Resources: Urban Youth Workers Institute
This annual event gathers 2,000 emerging ethnic leaders who work with at-risk children and youth throughout the country for three days of training, networking, coaching, worship, encouragement and inspirational instruction.; Alliance Ministries and Seminars equips today's leaders for tomorrow challenges. They help transform organizations that assist youth into a state-of-the-art support platform, responsible and relevant to the needs of the community.; RELOAD Training Tour
Urban Youth Workers Institute has partnered with local ministries in dozens of cities across the country to bring you RELOAD, a one-day training experience, designed to refresh and support urban youth workers and leaders.; Leadership Catalyst
Established in 1995, Leadership Catalyst helps leaders develop trust and authentic environments of character, vision and productivity. Their groundbreaking process helps leaders and teams bridge the Trust Gap. Delivery of the learning process is implemented through your organization's coaches, who are trained in Catalyst Coaches' Clinics. YPN recommends their free email newsletter, Friends of Catalyst.; Planet Wisdom provides life-changing discipleship for world-changing students in cities across the country.; Scott Barth
Scott is a Business Coach with Action International and has provided great tools and info for our Denver network.

Leadership Resources: Leadership Deficit for Nonprofits - over the next decade the nonprofit sector will need to recruit about 640,000 new senior staffers to meet its growth needs, a new white paper says. "The Nonprofit Sector's Leadership Deficit," written by Thomas J. Tierney and published by the Bridgespan Group in Boston, says the leadership crunch comes at a time when society increasingly is relying on the sector to address societal issues.; Several factors contribute to the leadership deficit, the paper says, including baby boomer retirement, lack of internal resources for staff development, and a lack of career mobility for current leaders. The paper encourages nonprofits to invest in developing their leadership capacity, even if that means diverting some of their resources to cover overhead costs. Nonprofits also must develop competitive compensation packages to help recruit and retain high-quality leaders, the paper says. To reach a larger group of possible leaders, nonprofits should broaden recruitment pools and strategies to reach baby boomers who want to keep working, people interested in mid-life career changes, and younger people, the paper says.

Funding Resources: Gifts in Kind International
The mission of Gifts In Kind International is to link donor resources to enhance, empower, and restore communities and people in need. They generated and placed nearly $900 million in urgently-needed new product donations last year. Gifts In Kind receives donations from thousands of large and small companies, including half of the Fortune 100 technology, retail, and consumer corporations. They distribute these donations to more than 150,000 community charities across the United States and throughout the world.
Financial Resources

Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability
ECFA is committed to helping Christ-centered organizations earn the public's trust through developing and maintaining standards of accountability that convey God-honoring ethical practices. Visit their website for great resources on starting a ministry, tax-exempt status, compensating ministry leaders, sample policies, or join ECFA for additional benefits.

Non-Profit Guides
There is a knack to writing grants. This website provides some helpful tools to help you with your grantwriting.

Administrative Resources

TechSoup
Discount Hardware & Software: Nonprofits today are faced with significant funding challenges and operating challenges. TechSoup has been working with thousands of organizations to ensure that they have the ability to obtain technology product donations and implement them successfully with minimum cost.

eTapestry
eTapestry is one of the most advanced donor management and fundraising databases you will find. YPN has had great success with eTapestry and have customized it per our entire program! We personally recommend their database and their customer service has been over the top! Download this PDF to read more about eTapestry.

I-55 Associates
Drawing their name and inspiration from the promises of Isaiah 55, their team provides professional program and fundraising consultation, grant-writing services and related seminars, training and coaching. With nearly 25 years of combined marketing, consulting, ministry and non-profit experience, the i55 team can assist your ministry in maximizing operational effectiveness and sustainability.

For Nonprofits with Big Goals and Small Budgets:

In order to attract more donation dollars, you need to offer donors as many ways as possible to give. For this reason YouthPartnersNET has teamed up with EFT Corporation to offer you the EFT Value Program for Nonprofits. This program allows you to collect donations from the web, by mail, by phone or face-to-face. They'll even help you set up monthly giving options for donations that keep coming in without you having to ask for them.

View their promotional PDF, visit their website to complete an initial needs analysis...and if you're interested in learning more about EFT Corporation and their program used by non-profits around the country, contact Matt and mention YPN EFT Value Program!

The CIMA Companies Inc.
CIMA offers insurance for non-profit organization, including an inexpensive solution to volunteer protection. They also offer a free library and many links to other non-profit resources.

TechMission

TechMission is a Christian nonprofit social service organization, created to support Christian organizations in using technology to transform vulnerable communities. TechMission emerged as an organization in 2000, through relationships established within the Christian Community Development Association. A summary of their programs is listed below:

AC4 - Association of Christian Community Computer Centers
Computer Skills to Make a Living - A Spiritual Foundation to Make a Life
AC4 is a program of TM formed to support Christian community computer centers (C4's) across the world. C4's work to address the digital-divide, defined as the gap between those with access to and skills with computers and those who do not have access or computer skills. C4's include any ministry that uses technology as an outreach to serve at-risk communities, such as technology-enabled after school programs, jobs programs, entrepreneurship programs, computer classes, computerized adult education programs and computer refurbishing. However, you don't need to be a computer center to join and take advantage of these technology resources. YPN joined this network and believes the benefits are well worth the $20-$50 annual fee.
Sign up at www.techmission.org/ac4.

TechMission Safe Families
Keeping Children Safe Online - Protection from Internet Porn
The goal is to assist parents in protecting children in at-risk communities from pornography and other dangers on the Internet. They provide Toolkits for parents, pastors and ministry leaders; Internet filtering software to protect children; resources to learn how to protect children online; practical resources for porn addition recovery; resources for pastors to address porn in their congregation; resources to start accountability groups; and online safety checklists for NPO's to make sure their organizations are safe. YPN highly recommends this site for FREE resources to keep our children and ministries safe online!
Visit: www.safefamilies.org

TechMission Corps
Internships in Urban Youth Ministry
TechMission Corps is an Americorps program that provides opportunities in urban ministry throughout greater Boston and Los Angeles in 3 service areas:

After school programs - serve at-risk kids by integrating technology into the program
Teen programs - serve at-risk youth by providing academic support, college readiness technology training and spiritual development.
Computer classes - for workforce development for youth and adults in at-risk communities.

Opportunities include one year Americorps internships, work-study in urban ministry for qualified college students, and volunteer opportunities in urban ministry. For more information visit: www.techmission.org/tmc/ or email tmc@techmission.org.

TechMission
ChristianVolunteering.org
This new website connects high-quality Christian volunteers with Christian service organizations and churches in order to transform vulnerable communities. Organizations list their volunteer opportunities on the website then volunteers can find opportunities when they search by zip code. YPN again recommends this site to register the volunteer needs of your ministry. Register at www.ChristianVolunteering.org for this FREE resource.

Urban Ministry Library
In the same way that there are "reruns" of television shows, TechMission is enabling "reruns" of UYWI, CCDA and other organizations talks to be syndicated through the Internet. The goal of www.UrbanMinistry.org is to create a library of the top ministry training content available online. We are always interested in adding more content to our library. Please consider sharing your organizations training materials to this national Urban Ministry library. Visit www.UrbanMinistry.org for this FREE resource.