Ozone House, based in Ann Arbor, Michigan

Ann Arbor, Michigan

Ann Arbor is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the county seat of Washtenaw County. The 2010 census places the population at 113,934, making it the sixth largest city in Michigan. The Ann Arbor Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 344,791 as of 2010...

, is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization

Non-profit organization

Nonprofit organization is neither a legal nor technical definition but generally refers to an organization that uses surplus revenues to achieve its goals, rather than distributing them as profit or dividends...

 funded by the United Way that works to "meet the needs of runaway

Runaway youth

A runaway is a minor or a person under an arbitrary age, depending upon the local jurisdiction, who has left the home of his or her parent or legal guardian without permission, or has been thrown out by his or her parent and is considered by the local authorities to lack the capacity to live under...

, homeless, and high-risk youth and their families." Ozone House addresses these objectives through a variety of services and venues, including a 24-hour youth crisis hotline

Crisis hotline

A crisis hotline is a phone number people can call to get immediate emergency telephone counseling, usually by trained volunteers. Such hotlines have existed in most major cities of the United States at least since the mid-1970s. Initially set up to help those contemplating suicide, many have...

, emergency youth shelter, transitional living programs, a drop-in center, and street outreach. It is a state-licensed Child Caring Institution and a Substance Abuse Prevention provider. Ozone Houses offers support throughout the state of Michigan, but is focused more directly in the surrounding Washtenaw County

Washtenaw County, Michigan

Washtenaw County is a county in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2010 census, the population was 344,791. Its county seat is Ann Arbor. The United States Office of Management and Budget defines the county as part of the Detroit–Warren–Flint Combined Statistical Area...

 area. The organization takes its name from the Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen

Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen

Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen is an American country rock band founded in 1967. Core members included founder George Frayne, John Tichy, Billy C. Farlow, Bill Kirchen, Andy Stein, Paul "Buffalo" Bruce Barlow, Lance Dickerson, and Bobby Black....

 song, "Lost in the Ozone

Lost in the Ozone

Lost in the Ozone is the debut album by the Country rock band Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen that contains their hit cover version of "Hot Rod Lincoln" as well as the band's live staples, "Lost in the Ozone" and "Seeds and Stems ."...

" owing to its roots as a drug-counseling program. Historically, it is among the first-generation alternative service providers that emerged in the 1960s dealing with runaways and the needs of at-risk youth.

History

The organization began in 1969 in Ann Arbor in response to the growing number of runaway youth migrating to "hip

Hip (slang)

Hip is a slang term meaning fashionably current and in the know. Hip is the opposite of square or prude.Hip, like cool, does not refer to one specific quality. What is considered hip is continuously changing. The term hip is said to have originated in African American Vernacular English in the...

" towns following the Summer of Love

Summer of Love

The Summer of Love was a social phenomenon that occurred during the summer of 1967, when as many as 100,000 people converged on the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood of San Francisco, creating a cultural and political rebellion...

 of 1967. During this time, Ann Arbor was among the top 20 cities in the U.S. with a high influx of runaways. Many came to experience the counter culture

Counterculture of the 1960s

The counterculture of the 1960s refers to a cultural movement that mainly developed in the United States and spread throughout much of the western world between 1960 and 1973. The movement gained momentum during the U.S. government's extensive military intervention in Vietnam...

 of the '70s but would later find themselves stranded. The University of Michigan

University of Michigan

The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...

, local businesses, organizations, and community residents united in support of Ozone House in order to handle the increasing number of street-dwelling

Street Child

Street Child is a debut album by Mexican alternative rock vocalist, Elan. It contains her biggest hit, Midnight.Ricardo Burgos from Sony Music called Street Child "a history making release in Latin America".-Re-edition track listing:...

 and panhandling

Begging

Begging is to entreat earnestly, implore, or supplicate. It often occurs for the purpose of securing a material benefit, generally for a gift, donation or charitable donation...

 runaways. Among these organizations were the White Panthers and Black Panthers, the Rainbow People's Party, and the Liberal Quakers. From these groups, Ozone House adopted a collectivist system to make its organization decisions.

Ozone House was part of four main agencies in the Community Center Coordinating Council (referred to as C4) that provided services to youth who did not qualify for human resources services at the time or who did not feel comfortable engaging those established human resource organizations. Originally housed together with these other services, Ozone House relocated several times since its founding. However, unlike the other C4 agencies, Ozone House is the only one that remains autonomous and active to this day.

Response to youth runaway needs

While initially providing drug-counseling

Drug abuse

Substance abuse, also known as drug abuse, refers to a maladaptive pattern of use of a substance that is not considered dependent. The term "drug abuse" does not exclude dependency, but is otherwise used in a similar manner in nonmedical contexts...

 to runaway youth, the organization expanded its services in the early 1970s to provide safe, temporary housing ("crash pads") for youth, many of whom found themselves in Ann Arbor with no means of returning home. Staff at Ozone House recognized the need to establish trust between its clients and uniquely adopted the same "hip" appearance and attitude of its largely hippie

Hippie

The hippie subculture was originally a youth movement that arose in the United States during the mid-1960s and spread to other countries around the world. The etymology of the term 'hippie' is from hipster, and was initially used to describe beatniks who had moved into San Francisco's...

 clients, providing physical spaces that were "non-institutional" and casual.

As the runaway crisis drew larger legal attention, issues arose concerning underage runaways and their parents. One of its earliest approaches was a three-tiered system for housing youth summarized as "crashing, fostering, and moling;" Each targeted a specific situation and age of the youth. "Crashing" involved youths over age 17 who did not need parental consent and could be housed by listed individuals or families in the area. "Fostering" was used in conjunction with Catholic Social Services of Michigan in order to circumvent state-licensing issues and arranged youth to live in state-licensed foster homes. The system utilized parental consent and asked for a voluntary small financial contribution to assist with the child's living expenses. The situation was unique because it allowed the youth to initiate hir

Gender-neutral pronoun

A gender-neutral pronoun is a pronoun that is not associated with any gender. It designates two distinct grammatical phenomena, the first being pronouns/periphrastics that have been assigned nontraditional meanings in modern times out of a concern for gender equity, and the second being genderless...

 services, rather than the parents or the state. The final strategy, "moling," recognized situations in which "a young person cannot get parental permission for Foster Care, the young person refuses to contact his/her parents, is an institutional runaway, or in other special circumstances." This third system allowed an underage youth to be sheltered regardless of the legal policies at the time. Counselors would ask a series of questions to determine if moling was the last (and most appropriate) option and if the actions could be justified pending legal action. "Moling" was recognized as a risky alternative requiring caution and staff were adamant that they be used solely for crisis situations rather than casual escapes from a youth's personal or familial problems. Staff viewed the third option as maintaining solidarity with the radical political changes

Political radicalism

The term political radicalism denotes political principles focused on altering social structures through revolutionary means and changing value systems in fundamental ways...

 in youth advocacy

Child advocacy

Child advocacy refers to a range of individuals, professionals and advocacy organizations who promote the optimal development of children. An individual or organization engaging in advocacy typically seeks to protect children's rights which may be abridged or abused in a number of areas.- Rights...

.

While helping to lead national advocacy to expand youth legal rights, Ozone House became the second agency of its kind to receive federal funding to address the growing needs of youth. This led to expanded services, such a free counseling, family intervention, and individual youth advocacy.

Changes

By the mid-1970s, Ozone House began recognizing that the problems youth faced were rapidly changing. Among these were rising incidence rates of child abuse, substance abuse problems within families, poverty, and parental imprisonment. Likewise, runaways who left home to explore counter culture on their own were becoming replaced by youth who had been thrown out of their homes ("throwaways") and youth who had aged out of the foster care system and found themselves with nowhere to go.

To address these needs, Ozone began changing its structure, including phasing out its collectivist decision-making system with a more traditional board of directors

Board of directors

A board of directors is a body of elected or appointed members who jointly oversee the activities of a company or organization. Other names include board of governors, board of managers, board of regents, board of trustees, and board of visitors...

. The collective system was officially dropped in 1995. Professional, degreed staff were hired to ensure their ability to handle the social, demographic, and federal aspects of youth advocacy and assistance. Ozone House also began an aggressive grant-writing campaign, acknowledging that competing for federal funding was becoming a reality for non-profits like themselves. Federal funding would also establish them as a legitimate service organization in the community and allow them to try "diversified models of delivering services to youth."

Ozone House staff and directors acknowledged that police and legal institutions were more comfortable and accepting with their approach toward at-risk youth. A Board of Director's meeting in 1974 noted that "[Ozone House] can't drift back underground after developing legitimacy in the community."

In 1984, Ozone House expanded its services by adding "Miller House," a transitional living program. There homeless youth could receive free room and board while attending school, working, and developing independent-living skills. Services continue to be added in the present day.

Services

Ozone House offers several services to address the needs of youth and families through its main site in Ann Arbor and the Drop-In Center in Ypsilanti. Main Site:

• Emergency 2-week youth shelter for youth ages 10 – 17.
• 24-hour Crisis Line.
• Individual, group, and family counseling services.
• Case management and advocacy for youth ages 16 – 21.
• "Miller House" and "SOLO" (Supported Opportunities for Living on your Own) transitional and independent living programs for youth ages 17 – 21.

Drop-In Center:

• After-school youth center.
• Street Outreach Program
• Youth Making an Impact (YMI), Ozone-organized youth volunteer group.
• QueerZone, weekly LGBTQ youth safe space.
• Project SpeakOUT, youth creative writing expression program.
• Community Education and Outreach team

Ozone House is composed of a Board of Directors as well as administrative, clinical, residential, and part-time staff and volunteers.

Partnerships, Affiliations, and Funding

Ozone House is partnered with various community organizations, including the University of Michigan

University of Michigan

The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...

 School of Nursing Nurse Managed Centers, Family Support Network, and Communities Empowering Youth.

The organization's various funders include the Washtenaw United Way, the Arcus Foundation

Arcus Foundation

Arcus Foundation is a private foundation in the United States, that supports groups working globally to promote great ape conservation as well as supporting human social justice causes, including sexual orientation, gender, racial equality and rights, and pluralism, particularly through the...

 Gay & Lesbian Fund, the City of Ann Arbor, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, and the Salvation Army

Salvation Army

The Salvation Army is a Protestant Christian church known for its thrift stores and charity work. It is an international movement that currently works in over a hundred countries....

 of Washtenaw County.

Awards and recognition

Ozone House was awarded the "Best Managed Nonprofit in Southeastern Michigan" by Crain's Detroit Business in 2002. Other awards and recognition include "Exemplary Agency for use of Best Practices" by a Michigan State University

Michigan State University

Michigan State University is a public research university in East Lansing, Michigan, USA. Founded in 1855, it was the pioneer land-grant institution and served as a model for future land-grant colleges in the United States under the 1862 Morrill Act.MSU pioneered the studies of packaging,...

 study, "Best Practices in Transitional and Independent Living Services" by the National Resource Center

National Resource Center

The National Resource Center Program of the U.S. Department of Education provides funding grants to American universities to establish, strengthen, and operate language and area or international studies centers that will be national resources for teaching any modern foreign language.Also known as...

 in 2002, and three-time honors by the Nonprofit Enterprises at Work (NEW) Center for Nonprofit Management Excellence.

The University of Michigan's Bentley Historical Library

Bentley Historical Library

The Bentley Historical Library is a historical library located on the University of Michigan's North Campus in Ann Arbor. It was established in 1935 by the regents of the University of Michigan...

established and maintains finding aids for Ozone House records. It was created by the Michigan Historical Collections staff.