Second Street Youth Center Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
226100119
IRS 990 coverage
2012–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Plainfield, NJ, USA
Phone
9085610421
Rating
79
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Human Service Organizations

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$4,569,056
Expenses
$4,446,198
Assets
$7,086,735
Liabilities
$6,205,334

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

12 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • LEAH DADE (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)
  • REV RONALD C THOMAS (PRESIDENT)
  • RAVEN SANTANA (VICE PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • LEAH DADE (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $156,167 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

The mission of second street youth center, inc. (ssyc) is to provide education, recreation, athletic and social activities for children, parents, caretakers, guardians and community residents at large. We provide individual social and advisory services for low-income children, families, and community residents. We develop children's competency, self-esteem, and self-reliance through opportunities to make choices, experiment, create, imagine, and inquire. Ssyc nutures the whole student and their family, providing the tools not only fo children to succeed in the classroom, but for the entire family to succeed emotionally and socially to meet the demands of today's society. Through our four programs, preschool, afterschool (including steam enrichment) full steam ahead summer camp, and community outreach services, ssyc utilizes a holistic approach to provide a continuum of programming that positively impacts access to preschool, nutrition, physical and emotional health, environmental facto

What it reported doing in 2024

Pre-school - ssyc operates a comprehensive early childhood education program for 210 children daily through our collaborative partnership with the plainfield public schools. We are using the state-approved curriculum, connect 4 learning, which is a stem-based curriculum founded by the national science foundation. As we respond to the developmental needs needs of children, we understand the need to address the social-emotional needs of our children entering the educational system for the first time. Therefore, this curriculum and our academic approach embed social-emotional learning throughout the day. We are also data-driven, therefore, children are assessed to ensure that they are making satisfactory progress towards mastery of the state of nj preschool standards and are being properly prepared for kindergarten. After-school program: ssyc operates an academic after-school enrichment program. Daily we transport 60 children from elementary schools in plainfield. They are provided a healthy snack, homework assistance, and stem-related education, 5 days per week. Our program includes two licensed teachers, who also provide individual tutoring for children who are identified as failing below grade level. Our program is critical to the academic success of our students. Most of our parents suffer from challenges in the area of literacy and do not have the ability to assist their children with homework or academic challenges.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 75% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 100% of reported program-service expenses outside its grant, affiliate-payment, and member-benefit lines. This expense classification does not rule out separately announced grant awards.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Few specific pay-setting methods are documented in the filing; unanswered boxes are not proof of absence and expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 93
  • Transparency & Controls: 62
  • Accountability: 79
  • Sustainability: 45
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 94.1%; rating input score 94
  • Program expense ratio: 96.7%; rating input score 97
  • Fundraising efficiency: $34.6 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 72; 72nd percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 94.1%; rating input score 94; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 0 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 0
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Missing
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 81.8%; rating input score 82; 15th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 6 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 75
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 2.7%; rating input score 43; 43rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.59; rating input score 54; 54th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.88; rating input score 8; 8th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 3.5%; rating input score 65; 65th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 5.5% per year; rating input score 100; 43rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 4.2% per year; rating input score 100; 35th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 20% per year; rating input score 100; 84th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 94.1% of revenue deployed · 96.7% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 9 of 11 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $4.3M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $156K · 12 people listed · 0 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 28 of 29 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 12 filing years from 2012 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • Grant readiness: Federal tax and exclusion status, award history, and grant-maker relationships.
  • People: Everyone the filings name, and which of them the filings identify by more than a name.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • High — Transparency & Controls: Pay-setting controls scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 43/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Whistleblower policy not reported.
  • Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 54/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 8/100.