Flourish Initiative

We weave resources and relationships together so all youth can flourish. The youth we serve are experiencing social, economic, and educational barriers. We provide youth with community and opportunity to support their development and success, in middle school and beyond. We want to see youth become their best selves and lead their best lives. Our hope is to support all aspects of well-being so our youth who experience major barriers can move from surviving to thriving.

Founded in 2019, we housed our first youth in 2020 during the height of the pandemic. At the time, we had 6 bedrooms and have recently expanded to 10 bedrooms! Since then, we have housed 42 youth experiencing homelessness in our shelter, and provided approx. $68,000 in funding for Boone County youth and families experiencing basic needs emergencies. We have also had 89 high schoolers participate in our paid professional development and career exploration internships at Columbia-based employers. Flourish has funded over $880,000--supporting 413 students to date--in college / career savings and scholarships for under-resourced youth in Boone County! We put youth at the center of everything we do!