Strong communities already have people doing the work. We help the system work better around them.
YCAN works with local organizations in Park, Hot Springs, and Teton Counties to understand where people are getting stuck, strengthen the connections between existing services, and put flexible funding where it can do the most good.
We do not try to become every program a community needs. We help local organizations do more of what they already do well, and respond when something important is missing.
Our Mission
To work alongside communities to change the conditions that create poverty, strengthen local systems, and expand opportunities for future generations.
In plain words: Hardship is rarely caused by one thing. Housing, health, work, transportation, recovery, and family stability all affect each other. We look at how they connect and work on the places where people keep getting stuck.
Created as a community resource network.
YCAN was created as a place to connect information, funding, organizations, and opportunities for people with low incomes. Nearly twenty years later, that role still guides our work.
We listen to the organizations closest to the need. We look across programs instead of at one service by itself. We identify gaps that no single organization can reasonably solve alone. Then we use the tools we have, including funding, planning, information, and training, to strengthen the local response.
Our job is not to replace local organizations. It is to increase what the local system can accomplish.
How change happens.
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Listen.
Local organizations and residents see different parts of the same picture. We bring those views together with community data.
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See the pattern.
We look past a single crisis to ask what keeps happening, where people keep getting stuck, and what is making the problem harder to solve.
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Find what would help most.
We ask what small, practical change could make a difference: a missing connection, help that is hard to reach, a funding gap, a rule or process, or added capacity for an organization.
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Act.
Whenever possible, we strengthen organizations already doing the work instead of building a duplicate service.
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Learn and adapt.
We look at what happened afterward and adjust. Our work should change as the community changes. See how we plan.
A gap is not always another program.
When an organization reaches the edge of what it can provide, the answer is not always to send the person somewhere else or to start something new. YCAN looks at why the gap exists.
- Is help already available but hard to find?
- Is a referral breaking down along the way?
- Is an organization missing one small piece of capacity?
- Is a rule or funding limit leaving the same people out every time?
- Would a targeted investment let an existing organization serve more people?
Those are the places YCAN is built to work.
Direct assistance is one tool, not our whole purpose.
In some years and counties, YCAN uses Community Services Block Grant (CSBG) funds for housing, utilities, recovery supports, or another need identified through local planning.
Those services change because community conditions change. Our role does not: understand local needs, strengthen what already exists, and invest where a gap can be reduced.
Where CSBG is focused this fiscal year
You do not need to have a client to talk with YCAN.
We welcome referrals when a YCAN-funded service is the right fit. We also want to understand recurring gaps early enough to plan around them, not only after every other option has been used.
We want to hear from organizations serving people with low incomes about:
- a need you see again and again but cannot fully address;
- a process that makes it harder than it should be for people to get help;
- something that exists but is poorly connected to the rest of the community;
- a small capacity barrier that limits how many people you can serve; or
- a community problem that may take several organizations to solve.
Not sure where to start?
Most people do not know which program fits their situation, and they should not have to.
Wyoming 2-1-1 is a free, confidential helpline that can help you find services near you. It is its own organization, separate from YCAN. YCAN is one staff person and a volunteer board with no walk-in offices, but we keep guides that sort help by what you need.
Board seat open: We're looking for a private sector representative with ties to Teton County. You don't have to live or work there. We hope to fill the seat at our October 27, 2026 meeting. About the seat
Express your interest