What happened to AYS?

We know that many of you are wondering what happened to Alliance for Youth Service (AYS). We have good news- it's still here! We are the same organization as AYS, but with a new name and an improved structure. Why did we change? There are three main reasons:

1. The first is simple- there was mounting confusion with another non-profit based in Utah called Alliance Youth Services that provided addiction recovery services for teens. Since our program is very different from theirs, we figured that our name should be different as well.

2. The second is more complicated- over the past ten years we've developed into much more than an alliance of parents, volunteers, youth and non-profits. We are our own distinct and fully functioning non-profit organization, and as such we needed to make the appropriate changes to our structure. I'm very happy to be a part of that change as the new Executive Director and I'm thrilled to work with a long-time Humanitarian EFY participant, Mary Dewey, who is now our Program Manager.

3. And last but not least, we needed to move to Provo, UT so that we could work even more with the students from BYU. In addition to recruiting BYU students and graduates as our trip leaders, we are starting an internship program, particularly for students in the Youth Recreation and Management Program. But as a Harvard graduate myself, even though I do love BYU students, I hope that we also have success recruiting trip leaders from Harvard.

We know that many of you are worried that the program has changed along with our name, but we can assure you that your experience with Humanitarian EFY will be just as great as those you've had with AYS. Feel free to contact us anytime if you have questions- we love hearing from you.

-Sally