Street Youth Ministry Of Austin

Volunteer Services: SYMin organizes and trains workers through our volunteer program. The pandemic and our move impacted volunteerism. In 2024, 507 volunteers (down 25%) contributed 5,013 hours (down 2%). Volunteers made over 1,500 deliveries of food, clothing, and supplies with an estimated impact of $185,743 (up 24%). This was the year volunteerism returned in a big way. 149 helpers served directly or behind the scenes (up 62%), contributing 934 hours (down 67%). Another group of 364 in-kind volunteers (up from 302) gave 3,687 hours (up 45%) and $77,458 of food (up 227%), allowing us to provide food on all outreach encounters, 3,089 food bags, and 1,793 meals.They also provided $94,027 (down 2%) in clothing and supplies. We began a laundry program with a local laundromat and paid for over 200 loads to improve clothing reuse. We also launder clothing left behind by clients. Service projects for groups and sponsorship of themed Friday Fun Days resumed.

Public Awareness: Our public awareness program raises visibility for street youth, who are often invisible and under-served. We tell stories from the street, use media, speak publicly, and engage schools. We resumed speaking opportunities, provide downloadable and printed resources, lead service projects, supply speakers, and publish newsletters. Our newsletter base grew 9% to 7,709 with very low unsubscribe rates. The base includes 3,053 quarterly newsletter subscribers, 973 prayer letter subscribers, 1,729 volunteer letter subscribers, 297 collaborator letter subscribers, 575 SMS program subscribers, and 1,082 direct mail recipients. We have 2,651 Facebook followers (flat). Print remains our fastest-growing medium as we monitor communication preferences in a changing landscape.

See Schedule O above for description