Youth Home Inc.

Youth Home primarily serves youths 12-17 with severe mental illness, currently housing about 60 on its 52-acre campus. The nonprofit, which also operates an outpatient clinic, helps “youth and their families learn to enjoy a higher quality of life and become contributing members of their community,” said Marketing Director Nicole Beard. “And we do that through compassionate, trauma-informed psychiatric and behavioral health care.”

Its biggest challenge is funding, but the organization has worked to create opportunities for people to get involved with Youth Home, such as a “casino night,” featuring a five-course meal with wine pairings, and monthly partnerships.

Success stories are many, Beard said, but she noted in particular the joy in seeing children once shy, withdrawn and angry emerging from their shells to laugh and make friends. “They’re ecstatic as they put their handprint on the wall as they graduate and get to go home to their families. It’s almost like looking at two different kids.”

Previous Honorees