Our Story
Our Mission
The Mid-Atlantic Network of Youth & Family Services (MANY) is a regional network designed to strengthen and coordinate resources and services for youth and families in high-risk situations. MANY is committed to bringing together those organizations and individuals who are interested in the development of innovative alternatives for youth and families, and in exploring new ways to provide high quality services.
In 1974 the federal Runaway & Homeless Youth Act* was passed through grass roots efforts of
service providers along with the National Network for (Runaway & Homeless) Youth. By the early
1980’s a youth service system emerged that was different in many ways from its child welfare
system counterparts. The goal of these services was crisis intervention, family reunification
if possible, and the provision of planning of other services that would help avoid placement
of these youth in state custody under the child welfare system or juvenile detention systems.
The needs of these youth and families touch almost every other human service system (mental health,
education, child welfare, juvenile justice, substance abuse, health, etc). It required its own
support system for coordination, training, networking, development of new technology and advocacy
and in particular, to maintain an inter-disciplinary dialogue that put the needs of young people
first. In 1988, a group of interested providers joined together to create MANY.
Early-on MANY began to define itself as a youth development network and began to attract
members and friends among other youth serving agencies and individuals. As a young organization,
MANY had a fast start and early on came to play a central role in the working lives of its member
agencies. In 15 years it has grown from a small coalition to a network of over 50 actively
participating members, and many more collaborative relationships. Together with an active membership,
MANY staff have designed a training and technical assistance program that has become a national model.
*The purpose of the Runaway & Homeless Youth Act was to protect status offenders** from being detained
in adult jails or other correctional facilities. For years these vulnerable youth were treated with
a corrections approach instead of family reunification or youth development approaches. In fact the
Runaway and Homeless Youth act is part of the federal Juvenile Justice legislation. Following the
passage of this act, a national system of runaway and homeless youth shelters began to develop under
federal funding across the nation.
** Status offenders are those whose offense is only illegal by virtue of their status as minors.
Example: running away and truancy are only illegal for youth, not for those whose status is “adult”.
Our Approach
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Consistent support
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"One size DOES NOT fit all"
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"Multi-faceted issues require
multi-faceted responses"
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Ongoing relationships allow us to skip forward – saving you time and money.
There is always a friendly voice on the other end of the phone (or email).
Our understanding of you, what you do and our ability to give you 100% is because
we have taken the time to make your 10% or 20% investment of time as efficient as
possible. There is always a friendly voice on the other end of the phone (or email).
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We don’t come in with preset ideas or programs. What works for one
organization or community does not work for another. By understanding a whole
organization or a whole person we are better able to individualize services.
We custom match each request with carefully selected learning venues and resources.
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We won’t pick up one issue or one question and give you one training or one
answer. It’s about context and relationship. We act as a “first-stop” resource and take
the time to genuinely understand your situation. Then, we link you with over 500 practicing
professionals, highly experienced staff and a wealth of resources to offer a comprehensive
combination of responses.
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Meet the Board
Meet our Team
Our Partners
Contact Us