Youth in Memphis and Shelby County deserve to thrive, and thanks to free community resources, they can!
With the goal of supporting families and building stronger communities, the Shelby County Youth and Family Resource Center (YFRC) officially launched in 2022 as an assessment center utilizing a model rooted in early intervention and alternatives to arrest and detention. Working in conjunction with local law enforcement and the Juvenile Court, the Shelby County YFRC offers youth an alternative to detention that includes completing an assessment and being connected to appropriate resources, including free therapy sessions.
“Community members might be surprised to learn that the services are completely free. Our center is a beautiful space. It is designed to be trauma-informed, trauma-responsive, so it doesn't feel system-like. It feels very much like a home environment, and we welcome people quickly. I think it also surprises people that there's tangible help right there and then in the moment.”
One of the programs offered through the Shelby County YFRC is Youth Connect, a free program for youth ages 13-18 living in Shelby County to connect to licensed counselors for talk therapy sessions. Continuing to measure the impact of the YFRC programming is the Assessment Center Outcome Reporting Network — a national framework for collecting data from assessment centers, and the YFRC reports publicly on escalation and recidivism rates and more.
By prioritizing early intervention — through collaboration with schools, families, peers, and even the young people themselves — the YFRC is connecting youth to supportive resources and to the community rather than to systems. With these connections and resources, youth and their families are empowered to overcome challenges and to build a future in which they will thrive, grow, and explore.
“There are two reasons I always point to Shelby County as a model assessment center across the country. First, the strong relationship that you all have with law enforcement to divert young people. And the other one is how much they have done in terms of using the youth and family voice to inform what they do. Youth Connect and how it operates, and the whole premise behind it [is an example of this]. I wish every assessment center across the country were implementing something like Youth Connect. So I think for Shelby County, those are two things that you absolutely should be proud of."
Want to hear more about the community connections available through assessment centers in Memphis? Listen to this conversation with Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris, Amy Kalb, and Molli Barker Cook on Meanwhile in Memphis!
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