HISTORY OF THE ORGANIZATION
Founded in June, 1985 by a group of concerned citizens and community leaders, Ocean's Harbor House was created to address the needs of an emerging population, homeless youth. On August 8, 1988, the agency opened its doors to provide a safe haven for five youth to help get them off the streets and out of abusive and dangerous homes. Through planned strategic activities, the agency has witnessed significant growth throughout its many years of operation to address the evolving needs of children and youth.
Ocean's Harbor House currently offers comprehensive services through its continuum of care that helps over 8,000 children, youth and families annually, from promoting youth development to aiding those who are in crisis.
To ensure the effective and efficient delivery of services, the agency created three distance programs, each with its own directors. Weekly staff meetings provide venues to share information. The core components are Harbor House Emergency Youth Shelter, Outreach Programs and Transitional Living Program (TLP).
The agency's continuum of care was borne out of the emergency shelter, Harbor House. At its inception the shelter served five homeless, runaway and abused boys and girls, ages 10 through 19. Due to high demand, the shelter later expanded to ten (10) beds and then to twelve (12) beds in 2002. To date, 19 years later, over 3,000 youth have received emergency housing from our shelter.
In addition to providing emergency shelter placement, Harbor House provides food through home-cooked meals, clothing, counseling, case management and medical services. Primary residential counselors assume proactive roles in stabilizing the children upon admission. In addition, the shelter provides 24-hour hotline services and drop-in services to the community for any child in crisis.
Ocean's Harbor House's Outreach program has been in operation since 1996. Located in a donated storefront in a strip mall about one mile from the shelter, the Outreach Center provides a place for local kids to drop by, discuss problems, receive counseling services, and participate in a variety of support groups located at this site. Outreach services include weekly groups held at the Outreach Center, satellite groups (provided in Lakewood High School in Lakewood), peer leadership activities, as well as individual and family counseling services. Groups provided include: a Young Women's Issues Group, A Young Men's Group, a Teen Rap Group, Peer Leadership Services, a Parent Support Group, Ala-Teen meetings, Anger Management Groups, Life Skills/Self-Help Group, Teens Living Clean Meetings (an aftercare recovery group), and monthly Teen Narcotics Anonymous Meetings.
The cornerstone of the Outreach program is Street Works; here professional counselors travel in marked vehicles to local youth congregation areas throughout the county. The Street Works model has expanded as a mechanism to identify at-risk youth in their communities to address and prevent abuse towards children and youth. This service model allows the agency to access youth that might not seek out services due to fear, embarrassment, lack of knowledge, or lack of transportation. In 2006, the Street Works project made 5,819 unduplicated contacts to youth from 32 different Ocean County municipalities. Currently, this service operates seven days per week, generally from 2:00 to 10:00 pm with some seasonal and community adjustments. This is one of the largest on-going outreach efforts of its' kind in the state of New Jersey. This unique service continues to adapt and expand to community needs. In addition, the program provides extensive community education and awareness throughout the year at local events, civic groups, and Ocean County schools were they aid thousands of additional youth and families each year.
In 2001, Ocean's Harbor House continued its commitment to youth by recognizing the special needs of older youth (ages 16-21) who lack the skills and confidence to successfully achieve adulthood. The Transitional Living Program was created because frequently these young adults literally have nowhere to turn. Because of their age, this population is often neglected from systems who serve children and those that assist adults. The TLP Program provides supportive services and transitional housing.
Under the conception, design and supervision of an active Board member, Harbor House Resale Shop opened in the spring of 2002 offering gently used or new items of clothing, china, crystal, home furnishings, etc. All proceeds from the shop support the activities of Ocean's Harbor House. Community volunteers dedicate many hours to the shop making this a very cost-effective operation.
In 2003, Ocean's Harbor House embarked upon a capital development campaign to build a transitional housing facility for the TLP population, SHORE (Supportive Housing Opportunities through Rehabilitation and Encouragement) House. The twelve bed fully supervised site in Toms River opened its doors in November of 2004 and allows youth to stay for up to 18 months. Supportive services, case management, counseling, employment and vocational services are provided at the TLP Educational Center which was also built on site at 808 Conifer Street as a separate facility open to residential and non-residential clients.
In 2004, to enhance the success of TLP clients, the agency purchased the multi-dwelling next door to the SHORE House and the TLP Educational Center at 806 Conifer Street. These units house 5 additional youth in three semi-supervised apartments that serve as steps from the group home to phase into independent living. The units were completely remodeled to code and licensing standards and opened in December, 2005.
The acquisition of $1.5 million in capital funds to construct the SHORE House, the TLP Educational Center, and the semi-supervised apartments; along with the operational start- up of the new facilities had been the agency's priority for 2003-2006.
2006 continued with an aggressive agenda. January 1st of 2006, Ocean's Harbor House took over operations of Ocean County's Family Crisis Intervention Unit funded by the County's Youth Services Commission. The FCIU is 24-hour court diversion services to attend to and stabilize juvenile family crisis. The agency was charged with the responsibility to more effectively enhance the operations, and subsequently the results, of the Unit.
The agency is further enhanced its' operations as a Volunteer/In-kind Resource Coordinator Position was established to more effectively utilize critical resources and develop stronger community impact initiatives. Staff training and development will continue throughout the year along with the refinement of policies and procedures. As a growing agency, socialization opportunities will also be provided to promote opportunities for staff to become more acquainted with other staff from other programs. Staff recruitment and retention showed a marked improvement last year and the management team is committed to finding and keeping good staff.