Festival of Flowers supports Iowa City’s United Action for Youth

The need is greater than ever for youth mental health counseling, but most therapists have waiting lists and some families don’t seek help because of the stigma about mental illness.

United Action for Youth, formed in 1970 in Iowa City, has 65 people waiting for counseling services, in part because the program accepts Medicaid and offers a sliding payment scale with grant support.

To reach more people, UAY created the Spark program that seeks to get young Black Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) into fun, creative programming to introduce new modes of expression and inspiration that may ignite a passion.

“Sometimes traditional therapy is not going to work for a young person or a family,” said Mickey Hampton, UAY development director. “But getting them involved in art, or music or outdoor activities — which are part of Spark — there’s a therapeutic approach to it.”

UAY’s biggest fundraising event, the Festival of Flowers, seeks to raise $50,000 to support programming like Spark, as well as the Young Parent Program, health education and downtown Youth Center.

The event is Thursday from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the Johnson County Fairgrounds, Building C. Reservations cost $50 a person and are available online until the capacity of 230 is reached.

It’s the 17th year for the festival, but the first year since 2019 UAY has hosted the event in person.

The festival will feature nearly 100 creative floral entries from community members and professional florists that are available to purchase through a silent auction. Also available in the silent auction, which will be online, are packages such as dinner parties, interior design services, date nights, professional photo sessions and behind-the-scenes access to some Iowa City arts organizations.

Charcuterie and wine will be included as part of the reservation.

New this year will be the Bloomin’ Throwdown, a live flower-arranging competition with members of the UAY staff and other community members, who have been featured in videos on UAY’s Facebook page.

“There’s a lot of crossover in how our staff approach their work with youth and a creative challenge, like designing flowers,” Hampton said. Themes include “managing chaos, making something beautiful out of what they have at their disposal.”

Hampton expects the throw down to be great entertainment. It also highlights the large number of “helpers” working to help Corridor teens and youth. The theme of the 2022 Festival of Flowers is “Look for the Helpers,” in homage to a story Fred Rogers, the famous PBS children’s television host, told to his audience.

“When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, 'Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping,’ ” Rogers said. He died in 2003.

“It’s a response to this youth mental health crisis we’re in,” Hampton said of the theme for this year’s Festival of Flowers. “Look at all the people who are helping and how it takes the entire community to address something like this. It’s been a challenging time. We wanted to shine the light on the people who are helping.”

The James Investment Group is the Festival of Flowers presenting sponsor and University of Iowa Health Care is the presenting sponsor for the Bloomin’ Throwdown.

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