On April 21, Lakepoint Community Church hosted Oxford – Addison Youth Assistance’s (OAYA) annual meeting luncheon. The event featured a presentation by Anna Torres, supervisor of Oakland County Youth Assistance, who gave an overview of the Tri-Sponsorship Model between Oakland County Circuit Courts, school districts and local governments, plus she shared the history of Oakland County Youth Assistance.

Youth Assistance was started in 1953 and locally it has served families since 1963. The program has grown to have 26 offices throughout Oakland County – one office for every school district. The OAYA office is located at Oxford Middle School, across from the band room, but it’s not just for middle school-aged students. OAYA is for children 17 and younger. It is supported by both villages of Oxford and Leonard, Oxford and Addison townships, Oxford Community Schools and Oakland County Circuit courts. Currently Oxford has one Youth Assistance case worker, Stacy Williams.

During the meeting Williams shared that 147 families had been served by OAYA in 2022, highlighting the youth assistance referral process, referral reasons, different casework services, and current casework trends. The biggest referral reasons were prevention services and school truancy, with middle school students being the largest population served by OAYA. Williams said there has been an increase in high school referrals for vape-related offenses. “Referrals for prevention services, which include counseling and referrals to additional community resources for food, financial or mental health assistance, have nearly doubled,” she said.

In 2022, OAYA was able to provide support to a total of 76 youth and families through mentoring, skill building and camp scholarships, holiday gift cards, food insecurity and the Shop with a Hero programs. “OAYA is appreciative of the hard work and commitment of the Board of Directors and volunteers, as well as the support of sponsors such as Oxford Township, the Village of Oxford, Addison Township, Oxford Community Schools, and the Oakland County Circuit Court- Family Division. Moving forward, OAYA’s goals are to increase awareness of services and programs offered, recruit more volunteers, and build stronger relationships with sponsors and community partners,” Williams said.

On Friday, May 12 at Seymour Lake Township Park, OAYA will have their annual Youth Recognition event. — Don Rush