Idaho Youth Ranch: A Story of Vision, Leadership, and Healing | Ever Onward - Ep. 75

Ever Onward Podcast

Scott Curtis, CEO of Idaho Youth Ranch, has spent the past seven years leading one of the state’s most ambitious transformations in youth mental health care. Scott's journey from math teacher to nonprofit leader embodies the powerful intersection of personal mission and community impact. In this deeply moving conversation, Scott takes us behind the scenes of the Idaho Youth Ranch transformation—a story of resilience, strategic vision, and unwavering dedication to serving vulnerable youth.
Growing up in a family that regularly opened their home to exchange students and unwed mothers, Scott witnessed firsthand how compassionate intervention can redirect lives. This foundation shaped his career path from high school math teacher to social worker, eventually leading him to the YMCA where he spearheaded the remarkable community transformation in Caldwell.
When Scott joined the Idaho Youth Ranch seven years ago, he encountered an organization with rich history but significant challenges. Founded in the 1950s on 2,500 acres of sagebrush land using repurposed barracks from the Minidoka internment camp, the organization had evolved over decades but faced financial struggles that threatened its mission. Scott's leadership stabilized operations while uncovering a critical statewide need: Idaho had no residential psychiatric treatment facility for youth, forcing families to send children to out-of-state facilities, sometimes as far as Arkansas.
The centerpiece of our conversation reveals how Scott and community leaders Robert Rebholz and Mark Miller launched an audacious $20 million capital campaign during the height of COVID-19 pandemic restrictions. Against conventional wisdom, this campaign broke fundraising records, demonstrating the community's profound recognition of the crisis facing Idaho's youth and families.
Today, the 258-acre Residential Center for Healing and Resilience serves youth from across Idaho, providing specialized treatment in a setting designed for healing—complete with private rooms, therapeutic spaces, and an on-site charter school. The transformation in these young lives is already evident, with the center's first graduate progressing from severe anxiety to mentoring newer residents.
Listen as Scott shares the organization's continuing needs, particularly for compassionate individuals to join their team as youth care providers. His story reminds us that when authentic mission meets determined leadership, entire communities can unite to solve seemingly insurmountable problems.

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Chapters

1. Scott Curtis: Idaho Youth Ranch CEO (00:00:00)

2. Scott's Background and Formative Years (00:14:20)

3. The YMCA Years: Building Community (00:26:40)

4. History of the Idaho Youth Ranch (00:32:20)

5. The $20 Million Capital Campaign (00:38:18)

6. The Residential Center for Healing and Resilience (00:49:40)

7. Staffing Needs and Call to Action (00:54:40)