BILLINGS — Youth Dynamics and the Yellowstone Boys and Girls Ranch announced on Monday they are joining forces to better be able to address the growing mental health needs of youths across the state.
“Our missions have always been aligned,” YBGR CEO Mike Chavers said.
The two nonprofits worked closely together before the partnership but decided to merge to be able to streamline the services they both provide.
“We had a shared client that unfortunately, as we both struggled to try to figure out how to meet this child's needs, this young man committed suicide, and we said we have to stop that from happening,” Chavers said. “The biggest barrier really is just the immense need without enough services.”
On Oct. 5, the two will officially combine under the Yellowstone Boys and Girls Ranch, with Chavers continuing to lead the nonprofit. The Youth Dynamics CEO, Dennis Sulser, will retire to support the new, unified structure.
"I spent more than 43 years directly supporting children locally and across the state of Montana. Most of my time was spent in education, but yeah, it's time to say goodbye and I'm excited about the future," Sulser said. “We truly feel that through one organization, we can do a better job of serving kids throughout the state.”
Their vision is to build a comprehensive support network for approximately 4,000 children annually.
“Bringing those community-based services together will allow us to have a bigger footprint and allow us also then to kind of seamlessly get things, get children into the right treatment at the right time,” Susler said.
