The Cinderella Project helps several hundred students get free dresses, gowns, tuxedos and other attire for proms and other special events in Nevada County. The Cinderella Project ensures that cost is not an issue for students to attend their proms.

Web pages

• Home - https://bffyouth.org/

The Friendship Club provides a year-round program in Western Nevada County serving girls at risk in grades 6-12. Girls meet after school during the school year, attend field trips and other activities during school breaks, and participate in summer camps and enrichment activities throughout the summer.

The Friendship Club has helped almost 1,000 girls since starting in 1995. The comprehensive, long-term program is open to youth who are female, identifying as female, and gender non-conforming between the ages of 10 and 18, and provides assistance into their 20s as they transition to adulthood. The Friendship Club serves more than 100 youth every year, providing year-round academic, social, and emotional support in individual and group settings – and ensuring basic needs, such as access to health care and healthy meals, are available.

Girls are grouped into cohorts by grade level and stay with their group until they graduate high school. Participation is free, as are all the activities, f… [read more]

NEO offers a fun, safe, and supervised place for youth and young adults, ages 11-25, to spend their time after school, build friendships, learn new skills, and discover their passions.  Several hundred youth participate in NEO every year. NEO provides leadership opportunities, summer programs, music events, and in-school activities. Some events will have age limits, check the website for details.

Web pages

• Home - https://bffyouth.org/
• NEO - https://bffyouth.org/neo/

The SAFE (Stability, Access, Foundation, Empowerment) program is committed to finding and helping youth ages 12 -26 who are experiencing homelessness.

Many youth experiencing homelessness do not have access to local or state funding or simply don’t know what services are available. And few nonprofit organizations in the region can help. SAFE fills the gap by connecting youth who have alternative, unpredictable, or inconsistent housing access with community resources and well-trained professionals.

SAFE helps mitigate homelessness in Nevada County by providing:

• Basic needs, such as food, clothing, housing, hygiene supplies, showers
• Education and training, including transitioning to college and/or trade school
• Physical health and mental wellness counseling
• Training to develop the necessary skills to live independently

Web pages

• Home - https://bffyouth.org/safe/

Big Brothers Big Sisters makes matches in communities across the country between adult volunteers (“Bigs”) and children (“Littles”), ages 6 through 18, primarily from single-parent, low-income families . These relationships can have a direct and lasting effect on the lives of young people.

Web pages

• Home - https://www.bbbsns.org/
• Contact info - https://www.bbbsns.org/about-us/contact-us/

4 Elements Earth Education offers programs that introduce Earth Skills, which are a blend of the ancient arts of tracking, wilderness survival, and nature awareness.

Web pages

• Home - https://www.4eee.org/

Youth Hub Summer Day Camp
This camp started in the summer of 2021 to provide much-needed child care for working parents during the summer and after the hardships of the COVID-19 pandemic. The day camp is for children in grades TK-8, and operates five days a week from 8am-6pm for five weeks. The camp provides a safe space for kids during the summer with a full schedule of enrichment and educational activities daily. The camp also provides first-time jobs for youth 16 ages and over from the community, including youth involved in BFFY programs. In 2023, 30 youth were employed and 250 kids attended this camp.

Web pages

• Home - https://bffyouth.org/

The KidZone Museum provides a children’s museum that works to inspire learning through creative play and discovery. Exhibits are optimal for children under age 7 and focus on building cognitive, physical, social, and creative skills through play. Camps and school programs are designed for children through elementary school. Teenagers can volunteer at the museum.

The museum includes:

• Indoor Play Structure
• Infant Area
• Art Studio
• Nature Play Area
• Science Lab
  
  

Web pages

• Home - https://kidzonemuseum.org/

This is a Ready to Grow (R2G) resource. Ready to Grow is a First 5 Nevada County program to connect children 0-5 with services and information that support their well-being. Organizations with programs that have this R2G tag may have additional programs of interest to families.

Gate Mountain Center is a eco-literacy, field science, & environmental education services for youth-school groups, adventure programming, youth development, wellness & mental health therapeutic mentoring for at-risk teens.

Web pages

• Home - https://www.sierraexperience.org/

iFoster’s mission is to ensure that every child growing up outside of their biological home has the resources and opportunities they need to become successful, independent adults. We provide a free platform of resources for foster care youth, caregivers, and organizations.

iFoster is an online resource portal with hundreds of free or deeply discounted resources. We can provide you with:

1. Educational, employment, health, recreational, and daily living products, services and opportunities kids in foster care and our young people aging out of care need to achieve their full potential! We’ve got over 300 partners providing what you need for free or deeply discounted prices. Access them online 24/7 or call us at 1-855-936-7837 and we can find what you need.
2. TAY Assistant and Digital Locker for Transition-Age Youth. An online personal assistant that helps our transition-age youth (ages 16 to 24) manage their life. Store your documents in a safe place, find resources, apply for programs, and k…

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