Youth Alternatives' new home (Printed May 25, 2007)
By Amanda Estes
Staff Writer
With their new Family Center, Youth Alternatives (YA) is reversing the tides of history in South Portland. On the site of the former State Reform School for boys in the city’s Brick Hill development, the organization has converted a work barn into a center for family support programs.
Built in 1903, the barn was part of the infrastructure on the school’s labor farm, where boys made bricks used to build homes along Portland’s Western Promenade.
Boys between the ages of seven and 18 were sent to the school for such minor offenses as being disobedient to their parents and in some cases impoverished families sent their children to the school when they could no longer care for them.
As an organization that protects youth from abuse, neglect and homelessness, while also providing support for parents and foster families, Stacy Karp-Mosher, Director of Communications, said the goal was to bring the building to life again with the sound of families.
The new building maintains its historical significance, as the original wood beams and floor are all intact. In the lobby, the rustic wood is pronounced by a modern reception area and throughout the building, rafters rise above sleek conference tables.
The Family Center houses individual and group counseling rooms, substance abuse treatment facilities, a parent education resource library, meeting rooms, gathering areas for classes and support groups, a training room, and a kitchen. Many of the rooms in the building have been named after some aspect of a barn, including Broadside and Parlor on the first floor and the Loft, the Silo, the Harvest Room and the Timbers on the second floor.
Karp-Mosher said the new meeting spaces were designed to bring people together in a more informal, comfortable way. On the first floor, a side entrance leads directly to a family mediation room. Karp-Mosher said YA’s previous space on Congress Street in Portland wasn’t as inviting to youth and families because each time they came in they had to walk past other families and administrative staff.
“It was a little off-putting for them,” she said. “They didn’t feel a sense of privacy and confidentiality.”
Besides a variety of meeting rooms, the center offers families a chance to gather together around a kitchen table. Karp-Mosher said for many families, especially for those with teenagers, the “real discussions happen when (they’re) eating dinner or cooking.”
Completion of the Family Center was boosted earlier this year by a $250,000 grant from the Kresge Foundation, which aims to strengthen and grow non-profit organizations. As part of the conditions of the grant, YA must raise an additional $500,000 for its Family Initiative capital campaign by Aug. 1.
Staff Writer
With their new Family Center, Youth Alternatives (YA) is reversing the tides of history in South Portland. On the site of the former State Reform School for boys in the city’s Brick Hill development, the organization has converted a work barn into a center for family support programs.
Built in 1903, the barn was part of the infrastructure on the school’s labor farm, where boys made bricks used to build homes along Portland’s Western Promenade.
Boys between the ages of seven and 18 were sent to the school for such minor offenses as being disobedient to their parents and in some cases impoverished families sent their children to the school when they could no longer care for them.
As an organization that protects youth from abuse, neglect and homelessness, while also providing support for parents and foster families, Stacy Karp-Mosher, Director of Communications, said the goal was to bring the building to life again with the sound of families.
The new building maintains its historical significance, as the original wood beams and floor are all intact. In the lobby, the rustic wood is pronounced by a modern reception area and throughout the building, rafters rise above sleek conference tables.
The Family Center houses individual and group counseling rooms, substance abuse treatment facilities, a parent education resource library, meeting rooms, gathering areas for classes and support groups, a training room, and a kitchen. Many of the rooms in the building have been named after some aspect of a barn, including Broadside and Parlor on the first floor and the Loft, the Silo, the Harvest Room and the Timbers on the second floor.
Karp-Mosher said the new meeting spaces were designed to bring people together in a more informal, comfortable way. On the first floor, a side entrance leads directly to a family mediation room. Karp-Mosher said YA’s previous space on Congress Street in Portland wasn’t as inviting to youth and families because each time they came in they had to walk past other families and administrative staff.
“It was a little off-putting for them,” she said. “They didn’t feel a sense of privacy and confidentiality.”
Besides a variety of meeting rooms, the center offers families a chance to gather together around a kitchen table. Karp-Mosher said for many families, especially for those with teenagers, the “real discussions happen when (they’re) eating dinner or cooking.”
Completion of the Family Center was boosted earlier this year by a $250,000 grant from the Kresge Foundation, which aims to strengthen and grow non-profit organizations. As part of the conditions of the grant, YA must raise an additional $500,000 for its Family Initiative capital campaign by Aug. 1.
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