Mayor's Office for Children, Youth & Families

Purpose

The Mayor's Office for Children, Youth and Families, housed in the City of Charleston's Executive Department, exists to promote, support, and facilitate partnerships and programming within the community to provide citizens with the resources, supports, and access to services that they need to thrive and succeed.  Within this broad mission, the office achieves the work by being an agent of collaboration for entities in the community that are meeting the salient needs of the community.

Function

MOCYF functions as a service enabler, not a service provider. MOCYF's role is to provide the infrastructure that supports service providers, identifies needs, helps create programs to meet those needs, and ensures long-term sustainability of services.

Affiliations

MOCYF oversees the Mayor's Office on Aging, the Division of Youth Programs, both of which partner with internal departments and external organizations to serve seniors and youth respectively.  MOCYF serves as intermediary project sponsor for AmeriCorps VISTA, through which the office provides AmeriCorps VISTA members to non-profits and public agencies to help them build capacity to better serve their clients.  MOCYF is also a local affiliate of the international Youth Volunteer Corps organization.  

Mission

The mission of the Mayor's Office for Children, Youth and Families is to ensure the positive development of children, youth, and families by providing the fundamental resources they need to prepare them for success in life and ensure that they become productive members and future leaders.

History

The Mayor's Office for Children, Youth and Families (MOCYF) was created in 1994 to focus attention on improving the lives of children mobilizing resources in the community to prepare them for success in life and ensure that they become productive members and future leaders of our community. MOCYF acts as a community clearinghouse of resource information, builds public/private partnerships, strengthens and enhances community capacity and encourages community collaboration.

Major Events

First Day Festival

The First Day Festival is a celebration of education that brings families and children together the Sunday before school starts for a fun day of free activities, information on community and school-based services, and free school supplies.

Annual Youth Summit

The Youth Summit is planned and facilitated each year by high school students serving on the Mayor's Youth Commission.  Students meet with Mayor Tecklenburg to discuss the topics and issues that are relevant today, and plan a summit to engage their peers from Charleston County High Schools in discussions on those issues.  Youth interested in serving on the Mayor's Youth Commission can contact Jennifer Gorham at gorhamj@charleston-sc.gov.