OKLAHOMA CAPITOL -- The Oklahoma Human Services Foundation awarded a $10,000 grant to Youth and Family Services of North Central Oklahoma, Enid, toward its $1.2 million capital campaign. Human Services Foundation board member Steve Bailey presented the check May 23 at the Oklahoma Capitol Complex.

“A number of donations have been made to the foundation and this is a perfect place to make an investment in the Garfield County community,” Bailey said. “We saw this as an excellent opportunity to give back to the communities served by this organization.”

Since being founded in 1974 by Enid teacher and educator Thelma Gungoll, Youth and Family Services has grown to become one of the largest providers of mental health services in north central Oklahoma, serving a three-county area of Garfield, Major and Grant counties.

Youth and Family Services will break ground on a new 10,000 sq. ft. counseling center and youth shelter facility in fall 2006 with an expected completion date in late 2007. The facility will increase the shelter’s bed capacity for children from 12 to 18, and increase the number of children served by about 25 percent.

The current youth services facility serves more than 1,600 children and youth annually, of which nearly 75 percent have been placed in the Oklahoma Department of Human Services custody by the district courts. That includes the more than 200 children receiving services through the shelter.

The new facility will also include more counseling offices and group meeting rooms to accommodate the increased demands for children and family counseling services.

Youth and Family Services fulfills its mission through a variety of services, including: family and child counseling, school-based counseling, an emergency youth shelter, anger management classes, parenting classes, delinquency diversion programs, a drug court and therapeutic foster care services.

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