By Tracie Sullivan, For Iron County Today
A nonprofit serving homeless and at-risk youth in Cedar City is facing major funding uncertainty this year due to federal freezes, raising concerns about the future stability of local services for vulnerable teenagers.
Youth Futures, which operates youth shelters in Cedar City, St. George and Ogden, relies heavily on federal grants to provide shelter, meals, case management and other support services.
Those funds — particularly the Runaway and Homeless Youth Act (RHYA) grant and emergency food and shelter funds through FEMA — are now either frozen or at risk of not being renewed, Youth Futures Executive Director Kristen Mitchell said.
“We used to count on government contracts as our most stable source of funding,” Mitchell said in an interview. “Now even that is uncertain. Without these funds, we’re trying to figure out how to avoid service disruptions.”
The RHYA grant alone makes up $750,000 of Youth Futures’ annual budget, with FEMA’s Emergency Food and Shelter Program typically contributing another $12,000 to $50,000. Mitchell said about 60% of the nonprofit’s total funding comes from government sources.
“We’re seeing signs of trouble,” she said. “Our FEMA grant is officially frozen for now — we were told they can’t disburse funds because they don’t have access to them.”
The Cedar City shelter, which opened in 2022, serves youth ages 12–18, offering overnight shelter, meals, access to hygiene supplies, laundry, Wi-Fi, therapy, case management and transitional housing for young adults.
Mitchell said the RHYA program technically expired in 2013. Since then, Congress has extended its funding year to year without formally reauthorizing it.
“It’s an unauthorized program right now,” she said. “That means it’s still funded, but only temporarily. And that’s not a good place to be right now.”
She added that the organization is “trying to get ahead” of any potential funding loss by seeking community donations and diversifying away from reliance on federal grants.
“We don’t want to scare people, but the reality is, we could be forced to make very difficult decisions that could disrupt services for the youth who need us most,” she said.
Approximately 80% of the youth served at each shelter are local to the communities where they operate, Mitchell said.
In Iron County, where Youth Futures’ Cedar City location provides services, the local need is substantial. The Iron County School District currently identifies about 380 students as homeless — a number that has remained steady for nearly a decade.
“People often think ‘homeless’ only means living on the street, but many of these students are living doubled up, couch-surfing or moving from place to place without stable housing,” said Lance Hatch, superintendent of Iron County School District.
The district’s director of special programs, Kevin Garrett, said that while some students categorized as homeless still receive family support, others — especially runaways — often lack any safety net.
“When programs like Youth Futures lose funding, the needs don’t go away — they just shift onto the schools and the community,” Garrett said. “We do everything we can to help, but we can’t replace the housing, stability and wraparound support a shelter provides.”
Mitchell said those services are especially critical for youth who might otherwise fall through the cracks.
“We’re reducing the adult homeless population by intervening early,” she said. “We help youth gain stability, education, employment and support — before they fall into the cycle of poverty, addiction or incarceration.”
Youth Futures is celebrating its 10-year anniversary this year, having served nearly 6,000 youth across Utah since its founding.
“Our goal is to keep our doors open 24/7,” Mitchell said. “We don’t want to talk about closures — that word alone can cause panic among our staff and youth. But we do need the public to know what’s at stake.”
For more information or to donate, visit: https://www.youthfuturesutah.org