St. Paul Youth Services Inc.

“The director of operations reviews the form 990 while comparing it to the audited financials. It is then closely examined by the finance committee. Following the finance committees examination of the form 990, it is presented to the greater board of directors for review, approval and signing prior to submission to the irs.”

“The conflict of interest policy is detailed within the organization's personnel policy. Also, board members are annually required to fill out a questionnaire regarding conflicts of interest. These questionnaires are then carefully reviewed by the executive director and board chair. If a conflict is identified via the questionnaire or other means, the conflict is investigated and action remedying the conflict is taken. No compliance issues arose during the year.”

“Per policy, the board of directors annually reviews and approves the executive director's compensation. A biannual report issued by the minnesota council of nonprofits examining local nonprofit compensation by position is used to assist in this determination. The executive director performs the same process for each of the organization's directors.”

“The organization's documents are available upon request.”

“Community relations - while the st. Paul youth services' early intervention programs increase racial equity by keeping youth of color in school, out of the criminal justice system, and living at home, the spys community relations program focuses on collection sustainable impact via trainings, workshops and consultations. This program works with organizations invested in moving beyond lip service on issues surrounding racial equity. We seek to engender sustained, systemic change through workshops challenging organizations that are stakeholders in achieving racial equity to shift their lens from "serving youth of color" to a focus on adult accountability. In doing so, we can create conditions that place young people of color's needs and voices at the center of decision-making, and achieve truly racially equitable outcomes. Despite immense progress made towards addressing unique obstacles youth of color face, an organizational barrier remains to realizing these goals. Spys identifies it as a failure to address the power dynamics, biases, and fears many adults have towards youth of color, despite positive intentions. Changing demographics create an urgent civic need to purposefully equip adults with skills to be racially responsive and culturally competent, thus creating sustained change across all sectors for youth of color. Through tools and training, we will pioneer common language, expectations, and behaviors everyone can use to effectively and fairly support youth of color. The spys community relations program (workshops, trainings, consultation, etc.) creates a cultural and practical shift in how we "deal" with youth of color, particularly those considered "at risk." the program gives organizations and adults the language and skills to evaluate internal biases and assumptions towards the populations they serve. It also provides a reflective exercise, assessing adults' competency in engaging youth, without racial bias. This evaluation is the first step in determining how well we adults are doing the work needed to create better outcomes for youth of color, and identifying needed organizational changes. We tailor our community relations program to specific sectors and populations based on unique needs. We can also offer the trainings, workshops and consultation to other foundation grantees as an assessment tool for their work in advancing racial equity.”

“The finance committee oversees the selection of an independent accountant and the audit of the financial statements.”