Publications & Sites 
Letter to the editor: Why close Youth Campus now?
Updated: May 1, 2012 8:30PM
Doesn’t it seem strange that with no public knowledge of financial trouble at the Youth Campus, a group approached them with an offer to buy the land, and suddenly TYC was in financial peril to the point they voted to close a 100-plus-year-old Park Ridge institution?
What did that group know that the general public didn’t?
The Summer 2011 newsletter states: “TYC closes the books on FY 2011 with a positive balance for the second year in a row.”
They spent the fall adding a playground, fixing up old buildings and creating special new zoning.
The city did not require new zoning, but granted it in December. What happened in the last four months, and how did anyone outside TYC know they were ready to sell?
Didn’t the highly educated Board of Directors do a business plan to make sure a “Foster Care Village” would be financially viable before they started toward that model?
If there were financial troubles, why didn’t TYC reach out to the many businesses and groups who have generously donated in the past?
Why didn’t they sell just a portion of the land, as they did in 2005?
Why didn’t they use their financial expertise to save TYC?
In a normal sequence of events, the TYC Board would have exhausted all fundraising possibilities, then announced the closing and then sought the highest bid for the property.
Let’s hope that since the decision has been made, that transparency and the good of the community become priorities.
Chris Simpson
Park Ridge
