Grant will fund housing program for troubled young women

For seven years, troubled young men in DuPage County have had a place to turn to for help.

Now, NCO Youth & Family Services can offer those same services to young women.

A $1 million federal grant announced today will allow the Naperville-based charity to provide transitional housing and life-skill education programs for at-risk women between the ages of 18 and 21.

Debbie Carr, director of residential programs for the nonprofit agency, said programs are available for other segments of the homeless population, including young women with children, but this particular category is dramatically under-served.

U.S. Rep. Judy Biggert, a Hinsdale Republican, agreed with Carr that young women in the area long have needed this type of service. She delivered the ceremonial check to NCO officials.

"This is so important," Biggert said. "Besides the housing component, this program makes sure young people and adults are getting financial education to truly prepare them for the future."

Carr said she first applied for the grant three years ago, but was denied. She received word nine months ago, after applying again, that her application had been approved.

The new program will be a companion to a similar program offered to young men in the same age bracket that has helped nearly 140 individuals since its inception in 2000. Carr said any of the young men who have participated in the program could be considered successes.

"They leave with more than they came in with, no matter the outcome of their stay," she said.

NCO officials are looking at apartments in Downers Grove and Willowbrook to house the young women. The 10 women selected for the program will live in five two-bedroom apartments.

The grant provides $200,000 annually for a five-year period. It actually will cost about $222,000 a year to run the program. The remainder of the cost will come from donations and fundraisers, officials said.

Participants will be charged from $100 to $150 a month for the housing, Carr said. The apartments are furnished and they receive housing stipends.

In return, they are expected to find full-time employment or attend college and get a part-time job.

"This is a very structured environment with a clinical staff on site each day to assist them," Carr said. "It's a very intense life-skills curricula that prepares them for independence."

The grant came from a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services program. Biggert was formerly a member of a House subcommittee with oversight over the program.