Alternative House Mission & Vision

Alternative House's vision is of a community in which all young people are safe, live in a nurturing environment and have the opportunity to reach their full potential. Founded in 1972, Alternative House transforms the lives of children and youth helping them stay safe, make positive decisions, achieve educational success, and overcome personal crises. We offer children, youth and families hope for brighter futures by providing counseling, shelter and neighborhood-based support.

Our Programs

Executive Director's Note

It's always challenging and rewarding being at Alternative House – The Abused and Homeless Children's Refuge. Our programs work to keep young people safe and provide them with the opportunity to grow and achieve their full potential. We see young people facing challenges that they shouldn't have to face but we also see them surmounting those challenges and gaining in strength and self-sufficiency.

This year, our economy has once again played a role at Alternative House. The number of young people seeking help at the Emergency Shelter for Teenagers is up 30% over pre-recession numbers. We've opened a new program to help young people who are homeless while still in high school and who don't have the support of a parent or guardian. Requests for food and clothing are up more than 50% in our community based programs.

Your support has helped us meet these increasing needs. As you will see from the charts on the Financial Information page, more than half of the resources we need to help young people come directly from the community. In addition to financial support, the help we receive from volunteers and the food, clothing and other supplies that are donated keep us going. Thank you joining with us to help our young people this past year and into the future.

- Judith Dittman