Another holiday season may be behind us, but for Justin Wilkins, executive director of the Endowment for Youth Committee, his blessings are just getting started.

This month, Wilkins is celebrating three years at the helm of EYC, a local nonprofit organization dedicated to helping underserved and at-risk youths achieve their goals, academically and personally. The EYC also will hit a huge milestone in 2011, as it celebrates its 25th year of operation, an achievement for which Wilkins and the rest of the agency’s staff and volunteers have been diligently planning during the past several months.

If all of that weren’t enough to be thankful for, the busy young UCSB graduate is projected to receive his Ph.D. in psychology from Antioch University this year, which he says will further his ability to create programs that tackle the tough problems faced by many of the community’s underprivileged youths from Carpinteria to Goleta.

“As I go through the process of completing my Ph.D., I continue to take these lessons that I’m learning about development systems, psychology and mental health, and I try to incorporate those into everything we do,” Wilkins said. “Really I want to take the programs that are serving at-risk youth, and make sure that they’re serving them in a very holistic totality. In other words, we’re not just looking at their grades, but we’re looking at all other areas that are affecting their success, and trying to figure out how to address those areas from a systemic point of view.”

Some of the programs EYC provides as part of this variegated, holistic approach are science, mathematics, engineering and technology classes, jazz band and music club, Yes I Can!/Si Se Puede! — Empowerment and Leadership Project, Summer Discovery Camp, Summer Music Camp, and counseling and family support services. But the organization’s flagship program is an after-school tutoring program called Putting It Back.

The longest-running program at EYC, Putting It Back is designed to ensure that at-risk students aren’t held back a grade. Tutors provide assistance with English, reading, phonics, language acquisition and math at a ratio of one tutor per every five students, so there is plenty of hands-on help available.

Individual success plans also are created for students in the program to address their academic, social and environmental obstacles. Wilkins said that while people often take for granted the fact that students will continue to move up through the grades without any delays, the unique challenges faced by many of the youths participating in EYC can make it more difficult than many realize.

“We have so many kids that stay with us in Putting It Back, year after year, and seeing that their progress is steadily going up, seeing that they’re moving from third grade to fourth grade, and then they get to junior high and so on, and that they’re really making progress,” he said. “Them just moving forward a grade is a huge success to us. For some people, that is just an automatic, but for us, that’s a success.”

The most recent addition to the EYC’s lineup is its Counseling and Family Support Services program.

The CFSS program offers free or sliding-scale therapy, not only for the students that EYC serves and their families, but for anyone in the community. In addition, the program provides critical behavioral support to the academic programs, and allows parents to become more involved and engaged, an aspect Wilkins said is paramount to the success of any student from any background. Often, though, this poses many of its own challenges.

“Involvement with the parents is something that we’re trying to implement and focus on more and more each year as we evolve,” he said. “There are challenges, just like with any after-school program, to keep the parents involved, especially because many of them are working, and rely on older siblings to provide after-school care. But parents are an integral part of the students’ success, and we work closely with school administrators and school teachers to try to engage them as much as possible.”

Before joining EYC, Wilkins was the assistant manager of the Noah’s Anchorage Youth Crisis Shelter. He said the increased programmatic control he has as executive director gives him the opportunity to help people on a larger scale, although it’s not without its own downside.

“One great thing about this job is that you’re getting to do bigger-picture stuff, because you’re designing the programs that are influencing youth,” he said. “But the drawback is that you don’t get the face-to-face that you get when you’re working on the front lines. That’s something that you miss when you’re doing a desk job.”

Nevertheless, Wilkins said he has more than enough on his plate to occupy him as he plans for a big 2011. In February, the EYC will sponsor Black History Month, as it does every year. Several events are planned throughout the month for school-age children, including a Future Black Leaders Conference and a writing/poetry contest through which middle and high school students will have an opportunity to compete for a cash prize.

In June, the EYC will hold a community event to celebrate its 25th year of serving the Santa Barbara community, the details of which will be forthcoming.

The EYC is fully reliant on grants from private foundations, fundraising and private donations. It maintains a low administrative percent, so that the vast majority of every dollar goes to serving students.

Wilkins is hopeful that people in Santa Barbara will help support EYC, so it can continue to help youths for another 25 years. He notes that it doesn’t cost as much as one might think.

“Many donors donate as little as $10 a month, and that sponsors one kid to get after-school help every day,” he said. “That’s almost 35 hours of tutoring that someone can sponsor for that little. Our goal this year is to serve 200 kids, so all we need is 200 people to donate 10 bucks a month.”

Click here for more information about supporting the EYC, or call 805.730.3347.

— Noozhawk contributor Kevin McFadden can be reached at kmcfadden@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews or @NoozhawkBiz. Become a fan of Noozhawk on Facebook.