Students team up with local youth services project

A group of West Virginia University business students are using their skills and experience to help a local nonprofit organization in need.

Students are working together to support the Morgantown Area Youth Services Project and create awareness about its services.

The Morgantown Area Youth Services Project aims to reduce incidences of delinquency, substance abuse and violence among youth in Monongalia County.

The project offers counseling intervention, education and community services and can help students get their records expunged.

The organization made $90,000 less in 2011 than it did in the previous year, and staff members took a 20 percent pay cut to compensate, said Jason Junkin, a graduate student working with the program.

"Right now, their main problem is low funding. It's the result of a struggling economy and not many people knowing they exist. Grants are drying out," Junkin said. "Essentially, these MBA and marketing classes are helping different organizations with whatever they need."

The program offers free services to at-risk high school and middle school students who struggle with drug or alcohol abuse, and it offers counseling and rehabilitation classes to college students and adults.

"The people who work there are awesome and very dedicated to helping those who need it," Junkin said. "It's great to have the opportunity to help an organization that's really trying to make a difference."

The students plan to help the program gain more sponsors, raise money through fundraising, revamp the organization's website and create more awareness, Junkin said.

"A lot of people don't know that there's an option like this out there. People need to know that they can get help right here," he said. "We hope to help them get their name out there and help others at the same time."

Junkin, who serves as a WVU Resident Assistant, said the program's services could help create a better future for students who have received citations for marijuana use or underage drinking.

"Before this, I knew nothing about the Youth Services Project. As an RA, I knew students who found themselves in situations who could've really benefited from the services the project offers," he said. "Students need to know this is an option, because by getting that help and possibly getting a mistake taken off their record, it can really influence their futures in a positive way."

Junkin said it's nice to know that his college career so far can be put to use in the real world in such a positive way.

"Everything we've done up until this point in business classes has helped us prepare to help nonprofits like these, who might work really hard and care a lot about their cause, but don't have the skills or resources to achieve their goals," he said. "I was thrilled when I found out that I would be able to apply what we're learning in class to an organization that really deserves the help."

For more information about the Morgantown Area Youth Services Project, visit http://maysp.cfsites.org.