Looking Towards the Future

One must diversify to meet the needs of a changing society. The Omaha Home for Boys is familiar with change. 

Since being founded 78 years ago, the Home has experienced a number of changes. Our campus location has changed three times, our name has changed … but our commitment to the Home’s mission – To Support and Strengthen Families and Youth – has not changed.

Founded as a home for needy boys in 1920, The Omaha Home for Boys continues to provide residential care to youth as our primary service. Today, the Home is much, much more …

In just the last few years the Home has begun to expand our services into a number of other areas. This includes:

Transitional Living
Launched in 1994, the Home’s Transitional Living program is a Residential program for young adults aged 18 to 22 with no family support system. The program provides young people with a place to live while starting a career or continuing their education. The program includes special training courses on personal finances (home budgeting, loans, taxes, banking, etc.), job-searching, time management and home management (cleaning, clothes care, lease agreements, etc.) The Transitional Living curriculum is coordinated by a set of veteran House Parents, who act as teachers, advisers and role models for the young adults.

Cooper Village
A psychiatric residential treatment center for adolescent boys started in 1994 by The Omaha Home for Boys and Uta Halee Girls Village. Cooper Village services go beyond the scope available at the Boys’ Home and have been broadened to include Crisis Treatment – working with the boy on an immediate basis rather than waiting for a placement procedure. Crisis Treatment allows Cooper Village to focus services to the youth when they are needed most … during the early, critical stages of need.

Parent Training
In 1993 the Boys’ Home Youth & Family Service staff began providing Common Sense Parenting Classes on campus and other off-site locations. This training includes communication, youth management and behavior modification. Specific role playing exercises give parents the chance to sharpen their skills and work with their children to avoid the heartache of an out-of-home placement.

Community Services
As soon as the new Youth & Family Services Center was completed in 1995, The Omaha Home for Boys began making the center’s conference facilities available to civic groups and businesses. A number of national, regional and local groups have taken advantage of the conference center for meetings, presentations and community focus groups.

Campus Outreach
In the summer of 1997 the Recreation Department at The Omaha Home for Boys opened its doors to youth in our neighborhood. The Good Neighbor Program was scheduled to run for two months, but good things are hard to stop! The concept was really quite simple. Increase utilization of the Home’s recreation facilities while providing a structured, supervised recreation program for area youth in the 4th to 8th grades. What started out as a simple summer recreation program has grown into a year-round opportunity for area youth!

In the years ahead the Home is planning to continue expanding services to meet the ever growing needs of families and youth. Services under discussion right now include:

Foster Care
Although we provide the closest thing we can to a real “home” atmosphere, The Omaha Home for Boys is still a residential care campus. Some boys learn all they need from the Home’s living skills program, but still have no acceptable home to return to. Today, these boys stay in their cottages. In the future, we hope to be able to transition these boys to a Foster Care program facilitated by the Home and located in a residence in Omaha.

After Care
Completing the living skills training (the National Family Home program) and returning to a parent or guardian doesn’t end the Home’s concern for a boy. In the past, House Parents, Counselors, Tutors, even Maintenance Employees have kept in touch with boys after they’ve left the Home. To formalize the after care process and provide continuing counsel, advice and support to needy boys and young men, The Omaha Home for Boys is reviewing strategies and forming plans to begin a comprehensive After Care Program.

Partnerships & Coalitions
The Omaha Home for Boys believes one of the most effective ways to serve large numbers of needy families and youth is by working with other organizations with missions similar to that of OHB. The success of the Home’s partnerships with Uta Halee Girls Village and Family Service of Omaha has proven that coalition projects can bring needed services to even greater numbers of youth and families. In 1999, and beyond, we will continue to seek out partnership opportunities with those service organizations sharing the Home’s mission, values and dedication to helping others.

The Omaha Home for Boys continues to grow and change and diversify our services every day. This diversification allows us to meet the growing, changing needs of families and youth, which of course, is why the Home was founded 78 years ago. And it is also why we will continue to diversify in the next millennium and beyond.

 Sincerely,
 
 Philip A. Lorenzen
Chairman of the Board