Southborough youth services reports outreach push, Winter Wishes moves to cash donations; personnel pay items set for Oct. 27 special town meeting

Sarah Mikas, director of Youth & Family Services for the Town of Southborough, told the Youth Commission on Oct. 14 that the department is focusing this fall on reconnecting with schools, sustaining prevention programs and ramping up outreach and fundraising for its Winter Wishes program.

The director said the department is “sharing out Encompass's most recent newsletter” and working with Trendline, a consulting firm conducting a community needs assessment. She described outreach visits to local schools (Woodward, Niri, Algonquin, Trottier and Finn), weekly contact with residents at Colonial Gardens and a plan to place staff at events such as trunk-or-treat and the town’s bib pickup for the Gobble Wobble race.

The community-needs presentation is scheduled for Nov. 4 and will begin at 6:30 p.m., Mikas said; the location may move to the Hearing Room at Town Hall if the select board agrees to co-host. On Winter Wishes, the department and Friends of the Southborough Youth Commission will again ask the community for monetary donations (by Venmo or check) that will be converted to gift cards for participating families. Mikas said the department shifted to gift cards after parent feedback that buying cards lets parents shop for their own children and be more involved in the process.

Mikas described a mix of prevention offerings (QPR, Understanding Depression, a validation information session, a grief-support group in partnership with the senior center) that “haven't been super well attended,” but said staff will continue offering them. She and interns have run outreach programs at Colonial Gardens and the senior population there, and a cost-covered refurbishment of an office space at Colonial Gardens (new flooring and paint funded; furniture pending) is intended to make it easier for multiple town departments to meet residents who have difficulty traveling off-site.

The director also said the police department has assigned a liaison to Youth & Family Services and the town may reengage a previously discussed safe-housing coalition that would coordinate public safety, health and human services around complex housing cases. Mikas said she expects to wait until January to begin using a newly developed department feedback survey so year-to-year comparisons remain meaningful.

Commission members and the Friends group discussed outreach logistics for fall events: trunk-or-treat (this year’s theme is “Frozen”), the Gobble Wobble bib pickup (usually the day before Thanksgiving), school concerts and the high school musical, and targeted activities such as winter crafting paired with brief psychoeducation as a way to attract residents to prevention content. Mikas encouraged commissioners to collect feedback from residents and to forward suggestions to staff; she said the department is fielding an increased number of mental-health referrals and emergency fund requests as the weather and daylight change.

Mikas told commissioners that personnel and salary-adjustment items are on the warrant for a special town meeting scheduled for Oct. 27 and that the select board has discussed running a salary study sooner than previously planned to address retention and turnover. She said an organizational assessment of town human-services infrastructure may be considered before conducting a single-department strategic plan.

Votes at the meeting included approval of the Youth Commission minutes from Sept. 11, 2025, and a roll-call vote to adjourn at 7:51 p.m. (see “Votes at a glance”).