This is part of a series highlighting MCN members across the state, featuring a vast array of nonprofit focus areas, and celebrating the myriad ways nonprofits enrich lives.
A safe space to hang out, play games, eat dinner, talk with your friends. It might sound simple, but the space that the Northfield Union of Youth (NUY) offers can be life-changing. NUY, located in Northfield, Minnesota, has the distinction of being the nation’s longest-running youth-led nonprofit. What started in 1993 as a space for youth to call their own has grown into a community mainstay that offers youth stable housing, food, clothing, and mentorship, in addition to being a fun space where kids can hang out.
Executive Director Kelli Podracky has only been at the organization for three years, but her enthusiasm for and dedication to NUY (sometimes called The Key), speaks of someone who is deeply embedded in the community and in the mission. When asked to speak to her organization’s mission moments Kelli shared, “I think about opening Wallflower House [a transitional housing program] in 2025, and within the first year, we provided over 900 nights of safe shelter. I think about the young people that walk through the doors of the Key. Last year, we saw over 500 kids walk through our doors. That’s 500 unique youth in a small rural Minnesota town, and that’s food access, seven days a week.”
Everything at NUY is youth led, up to the very top of the organization. Alongside an adult board of directors, NUY is also led by a youth board that makes decisions on governance and policies, and interviews potential staff and board members. The organization truly is shaped by the voices and experiences of the youth it serves.
These spaces give kids some hope for the future. It shows them what’s possible, gives them the opportunity to feel empowered, to give them a voice, and to lead.
Kelli Podracky, NUY Executive Director
Over the years, responding to the needs of the community, NUY has expanded their social service offerings, opening Wallflower House, a transitional housing program, and Wallflower Project, a volunteer host home network. Kelli told the story of a young man who was in a domestic situation and needed emergency housing. NUY found a host family for him, and he was able to create a relationship with this trusted adult in his life, someone in his corner. Through coaching and mentorship he found a job and gained a new level of independence. When they opened Wallflower House, he was the first resident. He soon graduated from Wallflower House and is now living independently, working at a nonprofit that supports adults with disabilities. Kelli sees the full spectrum of services represented in this young man’s story. Because of the stability that NUY provided, he is now able to give back and serve his community in a way that he might not have without their support.
As NUY continues to expand its offerings, Kelli describes her vision for the nonprofit’s future as a ‘campus of hope.’ “We’ll have this inclusive campus with this full continuum of services so we can really offer holistic, wraparound support for our young people. Whether a young person is coming in needing shelter, needing mental health support, food access, a trusted resource and referral—it’s really the campus of hope.”
For youth who previously didn’t know where their next meal was coming from, or didn’t have a place to sleep at night, hope can be a powerful tool. NUY offers them a respite, a place for connection, and place to be themselves. And that impact reverberates across the community. Kelli described the impact of one ‘Key Kid’ as they’re known, George. He came through the Key as he was growing up and served as the youth board president where he got the chance to speak in front of the city council. Now as an adult, he not only works at the Key as the housing program manager, but he also served on the city council. “We are cultivating leadership,” Kelli said. In many ways, that type of impact, the way that actions today can ripple decades into the future, is immeasurable. “These spaces give kids some hope for the future,” Kelli said. “It shows them what’s possible, gives them the opportunity to feel empowered, to give them a voice, and to lead.” A safe space, food, shelter, community. It’s simple, really. It’s also life-changing.