My Nonprofit Reviews

I first learned about Ettie Lee Youth & Family Services in 1968. Miss Ettie Lee was being honored for her work with youth at Brigham Young University. She talked about her two great loves in life: 1) being a full-time public school teacher and 2) working with her boys and the group home agency she started in 1950 in Southern California. As she talked it was very clear that her mission in life was to help troubled children that were not receiving the help they needed to turn their lives around. I have known about this agency for 48 years years. I have seen that the Board of Directors was truly dedicated to the mission of Miss Ettie Lee.
This agency today, without a doubt, puts children and those they serve first. The agency operates on a very thin margin and has no fancy programs but truly has its total focus on the youth they serve. Ettie Lee has an amazing length of stay for the staff who serve the youth, with most staff staying with the agency for years because they believe in the mission of Miss Ettie Lee. She created a family like living situation for her homes and the youth living in those homes. The Ettie Lee staff have total support for the family like homes. All staff are putting the youth first and this in shown by the success that the youth are having while living in one of the group homes. The agency gets many former residents who return or contact the agency to express their belief that Ettie Lee made a huge difference in their lives.
As the agency has seen a need to better serve the youth and their families the agency has created many new programs and services to better meet those needs. Programs such as foster homes, adoptions services, substance abuse services, mental health contracts, working with a charter school so the youth have abetter school experience. These programs have truly strengthened the agency and its ability to meet the needs of the youth and their families.
I believe that Ettie lee Youth & Family Services is truly a unique agency that is like none other that I am aware of. If I had a need for one of my family members for extra help I would not be unwilling to have that child be placed with this agency. Ettie Lee is a wonderful, caring and dedicated agency where the youth truly come first.

Clayton Downey
Salem, Utah
(801) 424-0110