A decades-old service is moving locations, seeking to save costs and become more efficient.
Juneau Youth Services has operated services in Juneau for more than half a decade, including the Cornerstone Shelter and the Transitional Living Program (TLP). Those two programs operated on a property on the corner of Hurlock Avenue and Glacier Highway, but this week JYS moved them to a new location.
Now, Cornerstone and TLP are in a building alongside two other JYS buildings on Black Bear Road off Mendenhall Loop Road. Interim Executive Director Walter Majoros said the move helps the organization maintain its services in a more efficient way.
“It’s just a time of a lot of financial challenges for nonprofit organizations, ours included,” Majoros said. “We’ve really been trying to find ways to gain programmatic efficiencies. Operating multiple campuses didn’t seem efficient to us.”
The Cornerstone Shelter provides short-term housing for those between 10 and 19 who need a safe place to stay. It serves youth who are homeless, runaways, living in unsafe conditions, in need of counseling or who simply need some time away from their families. It’s open 24 hours per day and seven days a week, providing lodging for up to nine people at a time.
Majoros said Cornerstone serves youth in a wide variety of situations, and that it also provides mediation services for families in crisis. It’s been running for decades, Majoros said.
For those who need longer-term lodging, they can move to the upper level of the new complex, where TLP is.
“The shelter is more temporary assistance, most of the kids are there for a week or less…with Transitional Living, the idea there is they can be there for up to 18 months or even a little longer than that,” Majoros said.
TLP serves people between the ages of 16 and 21, providing services including lodging for up to eight people, career services and life skills training.
People who have gone through the TLP have finished their high school diplomas, gotten jobs, enrolled in college, saved money and joined the military, according to a brochure from JYS. People can apply for the program by calling 523-6688 or by emailing TLP@jys.org.
The other two buildings on the property, which is located near a bus stop, are the Miller House and the Montana Creek building. Miller House offers services to youth between the ages of 12 and 18 struggling with behavioral issues. Montana Creek offers services to youth from 12 to 18 who are suffering from mental health issues. Both programs are co-ed.
The former location of Cornerstone and TLP, which is city owned, is currently up for sale. The city is hoping to sell it to another community-minded organization similar to JYS.
Majoros said the move began Thursday, but there was no gap in services. Most of the preparations had already been made, he said, so most of the process Thursday was moving the youth from the old location to the new one.
“There wasn’t mass chaos,” Majoros said. “There was a lot of preparation on both ends.”
• Contact reporter Alex McCarthy at 523-2271 or alex.mccarthy@juneauempire.com. Follow him on Twitter at @akmccarthy.
The new Juneau Youth Services campus (Courtesy Photo | Gus Marx)
An indoor view of new Juneau Youth Service housing. (Courtesy Photo | Gus Marx)
