2025 Community Impact Report

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In 2025, VOA Alaska reached over 4,800 youth, young adults, and families across the state.

A school gym fills with noise before it ever fills with people. Sneakers squeak. A basketball thumps. Bleachers rattle as students find their seats.

Now imagine that gym filled with 100 young Alaskans.* They come from different communities and carry different stories, but many are carrying the same quiet struggles.

Nearly half feel like they don’t matter. Many experience weeks of sadness or hopelessness that pull them away from daily life. Almost half feel isolated, even in a room full of people.

For some, that isolation becomes dangerous. Alaska continues to have the highest youth suicide rate in the nation.

This isn’t an abstract problem. You know one of these kids.

That reality is what shapes our work.

In 2025, Volunteers of America Alaska supported more than 4,800 individuals, delivering 36,000+ services across the most comprehensive youth behavioral health continuum in the state. We strengthened care in schools, expanded treatment options, and invested in systems that allow us to show up earlier, stay longer, and respond when it matters most.*

This year marks a shift, from growth to grounded impact, focused not just on reaching more young people, but on building what lasts.

*Based on data from the 2023 Alaska Youth Risk Behavior Survey, Statewide Traditional. Data has been rounded to whole numbers.

Download our 2025 Community Impact Report

Stories of Impact

Community Impact and Innovatio

Elevating Youth Treatment Standards at ARCH

In FY25, ARCH, a program of VOA Alaska, reached a major milestone by transitioning to a 3.7 level of care, bringing medically monitored, co-occurring treatment for youth to Alaska. This advancement allows adolescents with acute mental health and substance use needs to receive high-level care in-state, reducing reliance on out-of-state treatment.

The new model ensures rapid evaluation, early stabilization, and coordinated medical and therapeutic support in a safer, upgraded facility. By keeping youth closer to home and connected to their families, ARCH’s 3.7 designation strengthens Alaska’s youth behavioral health system and raises the standard of care statewide.

Healing and Growth Through School-Based Services

A parent whose child receives School-Based Services through VOA Alaska shared how the program has been life-changing for their family. After years of struggling with bullying, depression, and isolation following an autism diagnosis, their child has found acceptance, confidence, and hope through compassionate, skilled care.

With support from trusted clinicians, the child is now more resilient, less depressed, and better equipped to navigate daily challenges. The parent expressed deep gratitude for the guidance, professionalism, and unwavering commitment VOA Alaska provides to youth and families across the state.

Adolescent Residential Center for Help

At just sixteen, Zoe stood before national leaders in Washington, D.C., sharing how treatment at ARCH, a program of VOA Alaska, helped save her life and support her sobriety. After experiencing severe bullying, isolation following an autism diagnosis, and struggles with depression and self-harm, ARCH provided the safety, care, and stability she needed to begin healing.

Zoe’s powerful story, first shared at the Christopher Walden Foundation’s Gala for Hope, led her to become the only youth speaker at the American Society for Addiction Medicine Advocacy Conference. Today, she continues her care in Alaska and is helping shape a new Youth Leadership Program, ensuring other young people have a voice. Zoe’s journey reflects the life-changing impact of compassionate, in-state youth treatment.