Northfield Union of Youth Inc

Northfield Union of Youth (NUY) gives power and voice to Northfield youth by creating a caring and enriching community.  NUY empowers youth by amplifying their voice, ideas, and thoughts.  We support these ideas with resources and infrastructure.  Currently, NUY runs three separate youth-led initiatives: 1) The Key youth center, 2) Mental Health Youth Board, and a 3) A Youth Homelessness prevention program

"The Key" is in it's 30th year, making us the nations longest running youth-run youth-center!  The Key provides a safe and substance-free place for youth to connect with each other, caring adults, and the Northfield community.  The Key continues to grow, offer new initiatives and focus on prevalent youth needs and youth-developed programming.   The Key is open 2:30pm-9:30pm 365 days a year for all youth ages 12-20 years old.  Programming at The Key is free of charge without any registration or sign up required.  It's a place for at-risk youth to engage in art, music, social justice, games, and basic needs without any obstacles.  Programming includes:

• Art Night
• Outdoor recreation
• Dungeons and Dragons Night(s)
• Movie Night
• Volunteering
• Board Development

NUY's Mental Health youth board brings the unique insights of those informed and experiencing mental health issues  to create, design, and implement new strategies and solutions to mental health challenges facing youth.  This board meets every other week and has the support of a staff member.  Youth created a community collaborative event that helped everyone have informed and safe conversations about mental health, and are discussing how to teach parents what is normal adolescent behavior versus what may indicate a need for help, and how to start those conversations.  Youth without insurance have already been provided access to mental health care through this initiative!

NUY's Youth Homelessness Prevention initiative (The Wallflower project) is building a volunteer host family network in and around Northfield for youth to access when they are unable to find a safe place to stay at night.  These youth-led efforts are supported by NUY's staff to help destigmatize homelessness and to provide safe and approachable options for youth facing such large barriers to success.

Our Organization: 

NUY makes an amazing impact on so many Northfield youth.  Just listen to what some local youth said about the Key:

• "The Key is a place that, regardless of what you're feeling or going through at any given time, you'll feel welcome and accepted. It's a very hard thing to walk out of The Key feeling bad. With all the smiles and laughs it's a happy a place to be :)"
• "The Key is warm when it's cold out. It's cool when it's hot out. It's a home-away-from-home and one that's walking distance from the high school. It's a hub of all my best friends. It's where I go to hang out, do homework, soak up some good culture, and be with my non-blood-related family. I have gained so much from The Key, that I can't list it all. All the things that I am and love are from this beautiful oasis, The Key. Everything that gives me joy in life is in some way related to The Key. Creativity and oddity are a somewhat unspoken requirement, or a strongly supported suggestion at The Key. I'm a Key-kid. That's what The Key means to me. I can only describe it as such."
• “The Key is a place where I go to feel empowered to affect meaningful change. I’ve connected to and built relationships with adults and peers from all around our community.”
• "The Key means the world to me. It gave me confidence I didn't know I had. It made me feel like I had a voice and everyone respected it. Everyone here is like my family.” 

It's an exciting time to become a supporter of NUY!  We believe that every youth deserves the support and encouragement that we can provide as an organization.  We also believe that the solutions to change lie in the heart and minds of youth.  We need your support and help to continue this ground level work of empowering youth to own their future and to have the support to dream bigger.