The Dale House Project

The Dale House opened in 1972 as a special project with Young Life, a para-church outreach to youth. This move came in response to the alarming nationwide proliferation of broken homes, child abuse, teenage pregnancy, and drug and alcohol abuse. In 2000, The Dale House Project became a legally separate entity. Our goal is to prepare these young people for independent living by helping them acquire the necessary skills to become self-supporting, contributing members of society. Most youth are referred to us by various county Departments of Human Services or the Division of Youth Services, because they are about to be released from "the system generally have very little support, if any, available from their families. Indeed, many have suffered significant physical and/or emotional abuse in those families of origin. Residents work toward the accomplishment of independent living goals in areas such as education, employment, restitution, money management, transportation, consumerism, etc. For example, the employment goal begins with four weeks of vocational training in our Dale House Urban Garden/Learning Lab for Life, for which youth are paid an hourly wage, most of which goes into each residents' savings account. As residents accomplish goals, they advance from the most structured settings into independent living apartments, where they can develop the lessons learned in a more practical setting. While our residents can be resourceful and have learned to survive, they are often troubled by drug and/or alcohol addictions, temptations to return to gangs, and the helplessness inflicted by victimization. But, they are resilient and their achievements are a great testimony to their courage and determination. The second goal of our program is to provide a training and vocational development program for young adults who work with our residents. During the one year term, these staff work one-on-one with residents under the supervision of our permanent staff. We have trained more than 300 men and women in troubled youth ministry, and approximately 85% of them have continued on in a variety of vocations in the human services field.