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Teen shelter adds services to meet growing demand

Daybreak, the only organization in the region that provides emergency shelter and housing for homeless troubled youth between the ages of 10-21, has expanded its programs to make room for more teens at the original Daybreak shelter on Wayne Ave. Daybreak has seen a 110% increase in services being provided over the last three years and has been running at capacity for more than two years now. The group home known as Alma's Place has accepted its first residents and by the end of June expects to be home to 6-8 hard-to-place boys, ages 14 to 19, who have been placed in Daybreak's care by local juvenile courts. Daybreak officials describe Alma's Place as

Ty Greenlees Daybreak, the only organization in the region that provides emergency shelter and housing for homeless troubled youth between the ages of 10-21, has expanded its programs to make room for more teens at the original Daybreak shelter on Wayne Ave. Daybreak has seen a 110% increase in services being provided over the last three years and has been running at capacity for more than two years now. The group home known as Alma's Place has accepted its first residents and by the end of June expects to be home to 6-8 hard-to-place boys, ages 14 to 19, who have been placed in Daybreak's care by local juvenile courts. Daybreak officials describe Alma's Place as "the perfect place for young males who need more structure than traditional placements can provide and is designed to stabilize and help them to mature into healthy young adulthood." Social worker Stephanie Kind, left, and director of youth services Kathy Hooks discuss paperwork in the recreation room.

ENLARGE PHOTO

Residential specialist Megan Mitchell prepared a room on Friday at Daybreak, the only organization in the region that provides emergency shelter for youth, has expanded to make room for more teens.

Ty Greenlees Residential specialist Megan Mitchell prepared a room on Friday at Daybreak, the only organization in the region that provides emergency shelter for youth, has expanded to make room for more teens.

ENLARGE PHOTO

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By Mary McCarty, Staff Writer Updated 12:11 AM Monday, May 23, 2011

Daybreak youth services director Kathy Hooks explains it simply: “We’re coming home.”

The region’s only emergency shelter for youth has reopened its original building on Wayne Avenue as a licensed group home for teen boys, hiring 18 new employees.

The agency has invested $290,000 — all donated by the community — into renovating the shelter, now known as Alma’s Place. The home can accommodate up to 10 boys who have been referred by local juvenile courts, youth treatment centers or Children Services agencies.

Daybreak CEO Linda Kramer said two factors influenced the decision to open the group home: Demand kept growing, and the Wayne Avenue property never found a buyer.

Daybreak has seen a 110-percent increase in services being provided during the last three years and has been running at capacity for more than two years now. The emergency shelter can accommodate up to 16 youths, while the independent living program, which has a waiting list, can take in as many as 54.

“The building was costing us money and it was deteriorating; it was becoming an eyesore for the community,” Kramer said. “Meanwhile our shelter was overflowing. We had a liability, and we wanted to find a way to turn it into an asset.”

Reopening the shelter could only work financially, she realized, if it could become a licensed group home whose services could be paid for by local governments and agencies.

“We’re excited about the partnership,” said Jim Cole, administrator for Montgomery County Juvenile Court. “Daybreak provides excellent services for our youth.”

Cole said the new shelter meets a need for Montgomery County Juvenile Court as well, particularly with young men on probation. “We see them benefiting from being able to step down into a secure setting rather than dumping them into a neighborhood that might not be the best for them,” he said.

“This provides them with a transition period, and they’re gaining some life skills,” Cole said.

Amy Lee, president of Historic South Park Neighborhood Association, said neighborhood reaction “isn’t monolithic, but generally Daybreak has been considered a good neighbor, and we hope it will be a good neighbor again.”

Lee said that South Park is a neighborhood that “believes in social services,” but acknowledged that some residents initially were worried about the new group home. “Now that it’s opened, people are happy,” she said. “It looks better and it’s safer. Before this it was one more vacant building on Wayne Avenue, with transients sleeping on the porch.”

In its original incarnation, the building at 819 Wayne Ave., between Hickory and Bradford streets, served as the region’s only emergency shelter for youth from 1975 to 2008, when Daybreak opened its expanded facility at 605 S. Patterson Blvd.

Kramer admitted that she hates the term “group home” and wants the residents to think of Alma’s Place as home, period.

“We call it home, too,” Hooks said. “We are careful not to say, ‘We’re going home,’ at the end of the day, as if this weren’t our home, too.”

Alma’s Place residents can take advantage of all of Daybreak’s services at the main campus, only a short distance away — everything from the weekly coffee house to group sessions. Then they return home to the smaller group setting that’s so ideal for kids who need more structure and stability, Kramer said.

“It’s like a family,” Hooks said.

Social worker Stephanie Kind said that the residents are carefully supervised, with Internet and computer use are strictly monitored, and a “no-technology period” enforced every day. The boys turn to Hooks and Kind for advice on everything from personal finances to their prom dates. Recently, for instance, one of the boys wanted to invite a different girl to prom; the women explained in no uncertain terms what a social disaster that would be.

They’re performing the role of parent for kids who might never have had an active or engaged mother or father.

“They’re teenagers, but they’re still kids,” Kramer said. “If we aren’t there for them, they’ll become adult criminals or adult homeless. We want to raise community awareness that these are our community kids.”

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2209 or mccarty@DaytonDailyNews.com.

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