Mission Statement
The mission of the Greater San Marcos Youth Council is to provide area youth and their families with easily accessible resources which are necessary for family preservation and will enable them to live together amicably through confidant parenting, conflict and crisis resolution, effective communication, utilization of community resources along with the option of benefiting from the emergency shelter, where youth are temporarily provided with a safe, structured, and supportive living environment.
Description
The Greater San Marcos Youth Council, Inc. is a not-for-profit organization which was licensed on October 1, 1986 to operate as an emergency shelter for children ages 5-17.
The GSMYC operates one residential facility, "Casa de Maria", licensed to care for 16 children. Services are provided for boys and girls who are runaway, homeless, abused, neglected or minor offenders. Children are referred to the shelter by the Texas Department of Families and Protective Services, the Texas Youth Commission, Texas Juvenile Probation offices, law enforcement agencies and from families in crisis.
Non-residential services are provided through "STAR" (Services to At-risk Youth), a program funded through the Texas Department of Families and Protective Services.
A Board of Directors comprised of 11 local community leaders and one residential youth governs GSMYC.
Residents of GSMYC have easy access to individual, family and group counseling, physical and dental exams, social, psychological, and educational assessments, alternative education, recreational activities, and hygiene and social skills training.
Non-residential services are available to children ages 0-17 and their families who reside in Hays County and include: individual, family and group counseling, skills based groups, mentoring, Teen Court, home visits, a 24 hour crisis hotline, and groups in schools.
