Giving Rye: Meet the Rye Youth Council
Giving Rye is a feature series highlighting non-profits and community groups in and around the City of Rye. Today meet Lisa Dominici of the Rye Youth Council.
Your Name: Lisa Dominici
Organization: Rye Youth Council, Inc.
Your role: Executive Director
MyRye.com: Tell us your organization’s mission.
Dominici: Our mission is to promote social emotional development, strengthen resilience, and support mental well-being in our youth through best-in-class, accessible programs and services. Our vision is to ensure that every child develops the social and emotional skills to successfully navigate the challenges and life experiences that impact their mental health and well-being.
How long have you operated in Rye?
Dominici: RYC was founded as a council of parents, students, clergy, educators and citizens in 1963. The organization was incorporated as an independent 501©3 nonprofit in 1972 (52 years!).
What programming or work in Rye is the organization best known for?
Dominici:
- RYC Restore: Through Restore, we provide low- to no- cost, individual mental health counseling and therapy for children ages 5-22. Children receive counseling for up to 6 months to gain self-care skills and strategies they can use to improve or manage their circumstances. Currently, 33% of Restore “clients” are middle schoolers, 40% are elementary schoolers, 17% are high schoolers, and 10% are young adults ages 19-22.
- Peer to Peer (P2P) Depression Awareness and Suicide Prevention Initiative: an evidence-based program developed by the University of Michigan Eisenberg Depression Center and implemented in Rye by the Rye Youth Council beginning in 2021. RYC empowers P2P students in the middle and high schools to create ways to increase awareness and reduce stigma around anxiety, depression, and other common mental health challenges, and encourage help seeking when needed. More than 50 RHS students participate in weekly P2P meetings and over 30 RMS students meet bimonthly to create and implement their in-school campaigns that run from November through May.
- Middle School Transition – this annual spring program features a panel of middle school students who share the inside scoop on the social and emotional transition to middle school. Attended each year by 5th graders with their parents, this program empowers older students to help younger kids, and alleviate the apprehension and worry big transitions like this can bring.
- RYC Rainbow Run – this is an annual community-building color run held each November in Rye Town Park for kids in grades K-6. This year more than 280 children participated, including more than 30 teen volunteers. It’s an incredibly fun event thatserves as a protective factor by connecting kids of all ages to their community, and especially to members of the Rye police and firefighters, who join the fun by throwing powder on the kids and being the target of the kids throwing powder on them.
Looking forward to 2025, what will be your top initiatives?
Dominici:
- Expansion of RYC Restore support services to help more children and families. We recently hired Laura Caputo, a seasoned licensed clinical social worker with years of experience working with youth of all ages in school-based and private settings. We are adding additional clinical interns to our staff in January to increase our capacity to care for more children. Three are currently bilingual in Spanish. We are launching new parent workshops and ongoing parent support groups for parents with kids of all ages, from pre-school through college.
- Expansion of School-based Programs to support social emotional development and elevate youth mental well-being for all students in our community. Our professional staff bring decades of experience in empowering students to thrive academically, socially, and emotionally. Through this expertise, RYC staff will develop and launch programs our youth, parents, and educators need to thrive.
- Complete our Theory of Change Strategic Initiative and identify our 3-, 5-, and 10-year milestones.
- Raise awareness of RYC, our programs and services and the unique role our organization plays within the community. We hope to engage more families, educators, legislators and local businesses to deepen our impact and serve our mission.
Tell us about the population you serve and how they can get involved with your programming and services.
Dominici: We are a non-profit resource for the entire community, collaborating with families, schools, healthcare providers, businesses, and government to promote social and emotional development, strengthen resilience, and support the mental health of local youth. All our programs and services, with the exception of in-school efforts, are open to anyone who lives or works in the Sound Shore community.
- Students in RHS and RMS can join P2P each fall and create in-school peer awareness campaigns throughout the academic year.
- RYC Student Outreach Committee creates opportunities for students to help their peers and others through peer education and service projects. Any student in RHS can join at any time throughout the academic year.
- The RYC Grandfriend Club fosters intergenerational friendship between teens and senior citizens living at the Osborn Retirement Community. Students visit The Osborn monthly and create holiday cards and videos for the senior citizens throughout the year.
- We offer student volunteer opportunities throughout the year (almost monthly) that provide connection and meaningful service experiences. Any young person is welcome to participate.
- We are expanding our adult volunteer opportunities for people to be involved and contribute to our positive impact.
Are you a 501(c)(3) non-profit with tax exempt status?
Dominici: Yes
Looking back across 2024, what were your organization’s top achievements?
Dominici:
- Through RYC Restore, we surpassed 145 children to whom we have provided individual counseling and therapy, which equates to over 1200 sessions of care. This speaks to the local need for affordable and accessible mental health support for youth in our community.
- We expanded our programmatic and clinical teams to bolster the breadth of our expertise and ability to better serve our mission.
- Our student-athlete mental health program grew to include both the City of Rye and Rye Neck athletic teams. This academic year (2024-25), we have worked with 10 varsity athletic teams to teach more than 225 students new tools and strategies to manage stress, support teammates, and maximize mental wellness and performance.
- Our P2P initiative in the middle and high school continues to grow. More than 85 Rye students attended our all-day P2P conference in October to kickoff this year’s initiative. Through pre- and post-student surveys at both schools, we are able to achieve statistically-significant results among all students in both schools, including: Their ability to identify symptoms of depression and anxiety; Increased confidence in their ability to help a friend access in-school mental health support services; Increased likelihood of telling someone if a friend discloses they are thinking about suicide; Increased knowledge about how to get mental health help at school. RYC is now a designated University of Michigan Agency Partner and will lead the expansion of P2P to schools in our geographic area.
- We continue to create a critical mass of adults and youth in our community with the ability to recognize and respond to a young person experiencing a mental health or substance use challenge or disorder. In partnership with RyeACT, Rye’s Interfaith Community, and the Rye City School District, we have trained almost 200 adults in Youth Mental Health First Aid. Our next certification course is on January 14th.
How can local residents support your organization?
Dominici:
- Become an RYC Ally: RYC Allies make a 3-year financial pledge to help sustain and grow our programs and support services that positively impact children and families, and help us serve our mission.
- Donate! Now through December 30th, we are running our Annual Appeal Campaign and are asking the community to help raise funds to sustain and bolster our programs and support services. Most RYC funding comes from individual community donors – every donation counts and no donation is too small to make a difference!
- Volunteer! Volunteers can help with seasonal projects like our Gratitude Challenge or Mental Health Awareness Weeks, annual events like the Rainbow Run and our Help Helps benefit (save the date – April 24th), or serve on a strategic committee to guide our future efforts.
- Participate in our programs.
What local Rye residents and area businesses have been the longest, steadiest supporters of your organization?
Dominici: Every community member who attends a program, utilizes our support services, or makes a donation of any size contributes to our ability to serve our mission. In particular:
- The City of Rye and Rye Presbyterian Mission & Outreach support our positive youth development programs through ongoing funding;
- The Maddie Fund and other private family foundations paved the way to create RYC Restore and launch our programs that to support youth mental health;
- RHS Class of 75 has helped fund Peer to Peer since we launched it in Rye;
- RYC Allies bolster our growth and our ability to serve our mission;
- The Rye PBA and Rye Professional Firefighters are a big part of making our Rainbow Run a special community event;
- Westchester County Legislator Catherine Parker, NYS Assemblyman Steve Otis, NYS Senator Shelley Mayer, and the Westchester County Office of Children and Family Services provide ongoing support through program funding, event attendance, and community connection.
- Most small businesses in Rye are long-time supporters;
- The RYC Board of Directors, past and present, is and has been vital to our organization’s growth and health.
Tell us about you:
How long have you been in your current role?
Dominici: I served on the RYC Board from 2010-2018 and have been executive director since 2018.
Is the role full time or part time? Paid or volunteer?
Dominici: Full-time salaried position
How would your friends and family describe you in one word?
Dominici: Compassionate
Where did you grow up?
Dominici: I grew up in Weston, CT, and attended Weston schools K-12.
What is your favorite unimportant thing about you?
Dominici: My favorite unimportant thing about myself is that I am athletic and an outdoor enthusiast and continue to lean into new challenges that combine the two (like ice climbing!).
If the next five years is a chapter in your life, what is this chapter about?
Dominici: I am at the start of my 6th decade and recently became engaged, which certainly sets the stage for a new chapter in my life! I hope the chapter outline for the next five years includes personal and professional growth, greater self-awareness, epic outdoor adventures, more time and fun with family and friends, and inner peace.
What would you do if you were not afraid?
Dominici: Skydive, which seems to be a popular answer to this question!
Where do you live in Rye and how many years have you lived in the City?
Dominici: I lived in Rye for 20 years (Red Oak Drive and then Green Ave) and now live in Port Chester.
Thanks Lisa!
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