An Update from our CEO

October 08, 2024

Dear KYC Community, 

There is one con­stant in life: change. At KYC, we are no excep­tion. Over the last few years, the orga­ni­za­tion has expe­ri­enced expo­nen­tial growth, expand­ing ser­vices in response to the evolv­ing needs of our com­mu­ni­ty and the COVID-19 pan­dem­ic. KYC has more than dou­bled in size, both in bud­get and in staff. We’ve opened the LGBTQ+ Cen­ter as the first of its kind in the north­west sub­urbs. We expand­ed cri­sis ser­vices and estab­lished our Liv­ing Room to pro­vide ²⁴⁄₇ sup­port to our com­mu­ni­ty when they need us most. We’ve tripled the num­ber of meals pro­vid­ed to home­bound seniors to address food inse­cu­ri­ty and dou­bled the num­ber of old­er adults receiv­ing mid­day well­ness checks through this pro­gram. We’ve estab­lished part­ner­ships with our local school dis­tricts to sup­port youth in pre­ven­tion pro­grams and out-patient ther­a­py to increase access to ser­vices to reduce bar­ri­ers to care. We’ve grown our sub­stance use and addic­tion ser­vices, reduced stig­ma to sup­port recov­ery, and cre­at­ed access to life-sav­ing Nalox­one across the north and west sub­urbs. Our team has been rec­og­nized as lead­ers in pos­i­tive youth devel­op­ment and pro­vides guid­ance to agen­cies statewide to build health­i­er com­mu­ni­ties for young peo­ple to learn and grow. We’ve edu­cat­ed hun­dreds of com­mu­ni­ty mem­bers on Men­tal Health First Aid and expand­ed peer-led pro­grams that increase access to a vari­ety of harm reduc­tion ser­vices that put indi­vid­u­als in con­trol of their health­care needs. We’ve tran­si­tioned dozens of adults from nurs­ing homes and insti­tu­tions back into the com­mu­ni­ty to thrive inde­pen­dent­ly on their own terms. We’ve done so much and our work is not done. 

We’ve tak­en these huge steps for­ward, and now we’re tak­ing a small step back to focus on our long-term sus­tain­abil­i­ty and strate­gic plan­ning. We’ve expe­ri­enced the sun­set­ting of gov­ern­ment fund­ing and agency chal­lenges that has increased orga­ni­za­tion­al pres­sures on our finan­cials. As we look to the long-term sta­bil­i­ty and health of our orga­ni­za­tion, we had to make dif­fi­cult deci­sions to pro­tect our mis­sion, includ­ing releas­ing approx­i­mate­ly 9% of our team. This deci­sion was not made light­ly. It is part of our broad­er effort to refo­cus our resources and main­tain the abil­i­ty to serve our mis­sion into the future. No pro­gram­ming has been elim­i­nat­ed in this process and there will be min­i­mal impact in how we care for the community. 

We rec­og­nize the con­tri­bu­tions of each staff mem­ber impact­ed by this deci­sion, and we are deeply grate­ful for their ded­i­ca­tion, pas­sion, and hard work. 

Our com­mit­ment remains stead­fast to the peo­ple and com­mu­ni­ties we serve and with this restruc­tur­ing, we are con­fi­dent that we can con­tin­ue to meet the needs of our mis­sion while ensur­ing our finan­cial sta­bil­i­ty mov­ing forward. 

Now more than ever, we need your sup­port. If you are able, your invest­ment today helps to safe­guard clients’ access to care. Your time and exper­tise can sup­port our pro­grams as a vol­un­teer and advo­cate. We will come through this stronger and we know that togeth­er, we’re able to do far more than any one of us could do alone. 

Togeth­er, we will thrive. 

In your service, 

Steve Gay­dos
Inter­im CEO 

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