K-Town Youth Empowerment Network is a community partnership of local agencies, schools, faith-based organizations, government, businesses, youth leaders, and families working together to provide a “System of Care” for Knox County, Tennessee, youth ages 14-21 with serious emotional and behavioral challenges, and their families.

Why? Because Getting Help Can Be Complicated!

If a young person has needs that touch more than one system–such as mental health, juvenile justice, special education, or child welfare–searching for help can seem like wandering through a maze of wrong doors and hidden barriers. Systems of Care help youth and their families navigate the maze.

K-Town’s mission: To empower youth to function well at home, in school, and in the community, and to help them make a successful transition to adulthood.

K-Town Youth Empowerment Network is supported by a six-year, $9 million grant from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) Centers for Mental Health Services. K-Town is a partnership of Tennessee Department of Mental Health, Tennessee Voices for Children, Helen Ross McNabb Center, and Centerstone Research Institute, together with dozens of local community partners. To date, more than 40 Knox County organizations, along with family advocates and youth leaders have joined together to create a more coordinated, integrated network of services and supports. (More about Systems of Care…)

Watch the following video, in which K-Town's Shani Cutler is interviewed by WBIR-Knoxville about K-Town, Wraparound, and what can be done to help youth as part of the news program's series "Warning Signs."