OMNI Marks 40 Years of Serving Youths

What began as a crisis hot line more than 40 years ago has evolved into an organization that provides an array of services to youths — in crisis or not. Yet, said ’ leader, many community members remain unaware of all the Buffalo Grove-based organization has to offer.

It’s a misconception that only serves those who need help with behavior, drug or alcohol problems, Executive Director Jay Meyer said. 

“Of the 15,000 people we serve per year, about 9 percent of them are in counseling,” Meyer said. “We help kids navigate adolescence by giving them skills they need as adolescents, but also skills they need for life. We have programs that can benefit any kid in the community.”

Those programs include arts, theater, tutoring, outdoor adventure opportunities and after-school programs for girls to address important issues. 

“I think there’s a number of people in the community who don’t think they’d benefit,” Meyer said, adding that while clients who receive counseling services are referred by local schools, courts and police, anyone can register for other youth programs.

Funding sources and uses

is also perceived as the solution for those who need an affordable alternative to professional services, Meyer said.

The organization’s $6 million annual budget includes subsidies or scholarships for some clients, but plenty of clients register and pay for community programs, he said.

In all, receives about 65 percent of its funding from the state, townships and municipalities. The rest is generated through corporate and private donations.

Reductions in state funds, which accounted for as much as 75 percent of ’s budget in the 1990s, and since have dropped to about 50 percent, pose a challenge not only to OMNI, but also to many organizations that rely on government revenue, Meyer acknowledged.

While Meyer said he is waiting for $800,000 in state funds owed to , which also has seen a drop in donations from individuals, he is not letting that stand in the way of the organization’s growth. OMNI received a 15 percent boost from new revenue sources this year, including a grant from the McHenry County Mental Health Board to benefit Hispanic youths struggling with drug and alcohol problems.

“I think many of the opportunities people are going to see are going to be these niche opportunities,” he said.

Changing with the times

Aside from finances, Meyer said ’s biggest challenge is to continue to meet the needs of a constantly changing society.

“Communities don’t stay static,” he said.

The organization draws youths from a number of northwest suburban towns. In addition to its Buffalo Grove headquarters on Lake-Cook Road, has program offices at the Vernon, Wheeling and Ela township buildings, as well as a community resource center in Wheeling, Youths’ needs vary by town, as well as individual circumstances, Meyer said.

“The majority of kids in Buffalo Grove are doing well, but they are encountering the normal kinds of things that adolescents experience. They don’t have to have any kind of issue other than, they are adolescents,” he said. “In my mind, that is the biggest need.”

Meyer has served in many capacities since 1978, when he assumed his first position — a nine-month facility manager job, “which was essentially the janitor,” he said.

“When I came to the organization I really didn’t know anything about ,” he said. I just wanted a job.”

“Once I got there and I began to see the things that was doing for youth, I got excited about it,” he said.

He stuck with the organization, first as a volunteer supervisor, and later moving his way up the ranks, serving as a counselor, program director and associate director before taking ’s helm about seven years ago.

Over the past 34 years, he’s witnessed — and more recently, led — the organization’s evolution.

“Things are always changing. For some people, that’s a challenge. But for me, I really, really enjoy it,” he said. “It’s not chaotic change. It’s planned change.”

Anniversary celebration

will mark its 40^th year with an April 28 . Proceeds from tickets, which range from $135 to $400, will support a number of OMNI programs.

“The 40^th anniversary really presented us with an opportunity to do something big,” Meyer said. 

In addition to raising funds for , he said the event has helped awareness about the organization, which has seen a spike in website traffic since promotions began.

“We’ve had a 200 percent increase from one week to the next week in visits to our website. They aren’t just looking at the event; they are starting to understand OMNI,” Meyer said.

What’s Next?

To date, has served more than 500,000 youths, Meyer said.

The organization’s scope lately has expanded beyond adolescents. Among ’s newest programs is support for college students. The program was launched, Meyer said, because statistics show that 49 percent of college students don’t earn a degree within six years.

Online support is available to out-of-state students, while a site-based program that was established last year in Chicago provides living accommodations for a small group of college students, who receive tutoring, writing assistance, lessons in nutrition and time management and life skills instruction from live-in staff members. The program was created to serve students for nine months, after which time they are expected to transition into a traditional college living environment.

“The goal is, they are going to have a degree at the end of their college career,” Meyer said.

Other changes could be introduced in the coming years. In 2010, was in the early stages of planning the addition of an outdoor ropes course that would have included rock and ice walls. Meyer said such challenges allow youths to build skills that will help them be “successful in all aspects of their life.” Plans stalled when the organization was outbid on a lot in Buffalo Grove, and Meyer said OMNI is still looking for another possible location for such a structure.

While he said he “wouldn’t dare” speculate as to what ’s services might look like another four decades from now, Meyer said he expects continued growth in the coming years.

“Part of the success for has been from meeting the needs that are there. My vision would be that every parent in the community gets their kid involved in OMNI. Rather than 15,000 kids a year, I’d like to be in a position where we’re seeing 30,000, 45,000,” he said.