Youth

Mission

The Department for Youth will provide youth ages birth to 21 with opportunities through positive leisure time activities and social intervention to grow and mature into responsible productive adults. We will strive to fund a range and variety of quality programs and services available to all youth.

Programs

New York State Office of Children & Family Services Resource Allocation Plan

OCFS provides funding to Rensselaer County for youth development programing through the Resource Allocation Plan to youth serving agencies that focus on Youth Development. All programs are monitored to ensure the goals set, are being met.

Summer Food Program

The Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) is a Child Nutrition Program funded by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). In New York State, the State Education Department (SED) administers the program. The SFSP provides reimbursement for nutritious meals served to children in lower income areas at no cost when school is out.  Meals must be served in low-income communities where at least 50 percent of children are eligible for free and reduced-price school meals or in other locations where at least 50 percent of the children enrolled in a specific program are eligible for free and reduced-price school meals. Children 18 years of age and younger are eligible to participate in the SFSP. Persons over 18 years old who are physically or mentally disabled and participating in a public or nonprofit private school program established for children with these disabilities may also participate in this program.

Rensselaer County has been a proud sponsor of this program since 1974 with several feeding locations throughout the County. The mission of the Summer Food Program is to ensure that all children under the age of 18 receive healthy meals during the ten (10) weeks of summer vacation. Each site is open and welcomes all youth regardless of their race, ethnicity, national origin, gender, color, or disability. 

To find a food site near you, visit the New York State Education Department website or call 211.

If you would like to host a feeding site, please contact Debbie Fleming @ 518-266-7501 or dfleming@rensco.com for more information before the end of April.

Community Backpack Program

The Rensselaer County Community Backpack Program is a collaboration with the Department for Youth, Rensselaer County Probation and Mental Health, Troy Housing Authority, local Boys & Girls Clubs, Schools and Municipalities as well as several not-for-profit agencies throughout the County who work with disadvantaged youth, to provide the basic back-to-school supplies to disadvantaged children/families in our county.

This program has been operating since 2012, and runs strictly on donations from agencies, sponsors and Rensselaer County employees to ensure disadvantaged children in grades K-8 have the supplies needed to start the school year. 

Our goal is to ensure that every disadvantaged child have the basic tools available to them, beginning with the tools needed to succeed in the classroom, in the end they are both academically and psychologically prepared.