About

Our Mission

Community Youth Concepts’ mission is to engage and connect Iowa students through youth development programming and to provide coaching, training, and technical assistance in best practices to youth-serving non-profits.

Our Vision

Community Youth Concepts’ vision is an Iowa where all youth have access to high-quality opportunities that prepare them for success in school, work, and life.

Our Philosophy

Founded in 2008 by Amy Ostrander Croll and Lynette Marchant, Community Youth Concepts (CYC) is a mission driven organization based in Des Moines, Iowa.  By promoting the use of positive youth development principals and best practices, CYC provides volunteer service opportunities and career-based mentoring to Iowa youth in order to improve their future successes as students, professionals, and active community members.

Our Guiding Principals

• We respond to and address the needs of youth and the community.
• We operate according to best practices and share them with others through effective training and technical assistance models.
• We include youth whenever possible in the decision-making process.
• We assess all programs we provide on a regular and ongoing basis, incorporating a continuous improvement process based on sound data.
• We are cognizant of our fiscal responsibilities and are good stewards of our funds.

We invite you in to see how CYC is different and encourage you to consider how you want to be part of our youth development movement.