History

HISTORY

Y-US, Inc. was founded in 1988 by Brother Marcus Turcotte, a religious brother of the Sacred Heart. The original Y-US program (today known as Better Horizons) began as a collaborative partnership with Immaculate Conception Church on Park Street in Hartford and the Institute for the Hispanic Family, which provided counseling services.

Y-US evolved as a result of Brother Marcus’ work with youth in a residential school for emotionally disturbed children during the mid-1970's. During his tenure there, he worked extensively with Danny, a twelve year old boy who had suffered severe burns over 30% of one leg when his substance-abusing father had held him against a radiator because he had been crying. Danny had suffered a great deal of abuse in his young life. He was hyperactive, and his records show that he had arrived in first grade inebriated. His parents had used alcohol to calm him down.

At the school, Brother Marcus taught Danny English, which the students often practiced by writing letters. Danny would write letters to Brother Marcus, recounting the sad details of his life, but also expressing his amazing hope for the reunification of his family. During that first year, Danny acted out many negative behaviors in his attempts to deal with the tremendous rage within him. But through it all, it was evident that this boy had a tremendous will to become whole again. He improved his academic performance and discovered his own abilities. He began to demonstrate a delight in the world and the people around him. Danny was a joy to be with.

Within two years, it became evident that Danny no longer needed to be in a residential facility and he was assigned to a foster home. After three months, this fourteen year old drove a car to the institution to visit Brother Marcus. During that brief visit he told his friend that he had not broken the two promises he had made to him before leaving: he had not missed a day of school; and he had not touched alcohol. Brother Marcus intuitively felt that there was something seriously wrong; his intuition sadly proved to be true. The following day, Danny, a boy who loved cars above all else, aimed the car he was driving at a tree in an open field at over 100 miles per hour, and relinquished the young, traumatized life with which he could no longer cope.

The institution, which in some ways had helped Danny so much, had used behavior modification, the traditional reward and punishment control system. It had taught Danny to cope within the context of institutional life. But the external support system, the rules, the pre-set limits, the counselors were not available outside of the institution; nor were the controls that had defined the boundaries of his life. The institution had not taught him to cope with the "real" world; he had never learned to use his inner resources.

In the aftermath of Danny’s death, two things became evident to Brother Marcus. First, that children like this must be taught to cope and thrive within the context of their own environment; and second, that behavior modification alone could not teach them how to make independent decisions utilizing their inner strengths.

Following Danny’s death, Brother Marcus went to work in Hartford’s inner city at Immaculate Conception Church on Park Street, in the heart of the city's Latino community. He worked with children and their families on an individual basis, seeking an answer to the question of how to help children cope with the stressors in their own environments. The Y-US program evolved from these efforts.

In the spring of 1989, Y-USS, Inc. was formally incorporated as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation, which was an acronym for Youth-Under Severe Stress (pronounced "Why Us?"). [The name of the agency was changed to Y-US, Inc. (Youth-United for Survival) in 1998 and will be referred to as such for the rest of this narrative.] A three year startup grant was awarded by the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving to develop and expand our services. In 1991, Nellie Cartagena, Program Director at the Connecticut Department of Children and Families (DCF) coordinated our first youth services contract with the State of Connecticut.

In 1991, a number of volunteers were sought to help with an expanding population of children being served, now up to about 48 children. One of these volunteers was Eileen Downey, who became so committed to the program that she was subsequently hired as Assistant Director. Largely through her dedication and hard work, Y-US was organized into a financially viable organization.

The following year in 1992, Brother Paul Gauvin (through the support of the Brothers of the Sacred Heart) was assigned to be the first Y-US Retreat Director overseeing weekend respite care for approximately twelve children. The first Y-US retreat facility was a house at 1380 Blue Hills Avenue in Bloomfield, just down the street from our current facility. Also during that year, collaboration began with another community-based agency, Family Life Education, Inc. (then known as Family Life Ministry, Inc.)

With the support of Father Joseph Gengras, pastor of Sacred Heart Church in Bloomfield, the Y-US retreat program was moved in 1993 to a former mission church building at 1601 Blue Hills Avenue in Bloomfield. After the completion of renovations to make the building suitable for children's residential living, weekend retreats began there in 1994 for peer groups of typically twelve children. Weekend retreats continue there today

The after school program and office space continued to be housed at Immaculate Conception Church in Hartford until August 1997, at which time, the office was moved to the Bloomfield retreat facility and the after school program took place at St. Ann's Church and the Pope Park Recreation Center. Br. Marcus continued as founding Executive Director until June 1999.

In June 1999, Louis Gilbert returned as Executive Director, following a one year absence from the agency, after serving as Assistant Director from 1995-1998. Kelly Regan, a former volunteer intern and later Education Advocate, also returned in September 1999 after a one year absence, to begin serving as Program Director.

In September of 1999, Y-US' offices moved back to Park Street in Hartford and the agency once again had after school program space of its own, including a small computer room with educational software for the children. This location was at 2074 Park Street in the Parkville neighborhood. Weekend retreats and some weekday activities continued at the Bloomfield retreat house.

For the first decade of Y-US' existence, this one program agency (today known as Better Horizons) served children primarily from the southern neighborhoods of Hartford. This was due primarily to transportation limitations. In the Spring of 2000, Y-US was awarded the lead contract for a new service to foster and adoptive children and parents throughout the 37 town North Central DCF region. This new program, called Building Families FAST (Foster and Adoptive Support Team) approximately doubled the budget and number of staff (now about 11 employees) of the agency. This program became a collaboration between Y-US, DCF, Family Life Education, Inc. and Hartford Behavioral Health.

In the Fall of 2000, Y-US hired its first two Junior Youth Workers, two of our own teenagers who each work two afternoons per week, helping the adult Youth Workers carry out program activities for the younger children.

In September 2001, DCF asked Y-US to nearly double the new FAST program. Additional staff and vans were added to provide these services. By the end of June 2002, there were 17 total agency staff members and five vans of various sizes. During this period of growth, serious plans began for moving the Hartford program and office space to a new location on Park Street which would handle the agency's recent growth.

In the Spring of 2002, Y-US was chosen by DCF to provide a statewide Youth Recruiter for teenage DCF-involved youth to attend the Connecticut Job Corps Center in New Haven. With the implementation of this program, Y-US has become a state-wide service provider.

Summer 2002 saw the hire of Y-US' first on-staff Child Clinician, a child psychologist who works part-time meeting the clinical needs of the people served by the agency.

December 2002 saw Y-US' offices and Hartford program space move from 2074 Park Street to 1477 Park Street. This new space was built-out to agency specifications by the Landlord to accommodate the agency's expansion over the last few years and is about four times the size of the old location.

In the Spring of 2003, students from a CCSU film production class produced a documentary video on Y-US as part of their course requirements. The end result can be viewed via a link on the home page of this website.

In June 2003, Y-US launched its first capital campaign “Y-US Building the Future” with a fundraising goal of $260,000 to purchase our Bloomfield Retreat House, a facility used five or six days a week for program activities and special events. The campaign was kicked off with a $50,000 grant commitment from the Greater Hartford Jaycees Foundation.

In September 2003, we began collaborating with the UCONN School of Social Work and DCF for a class in mentoring. A small group of our high school youth participated in two meetings per month with UCONN students at their West Hartford campus. Activities included meals, group outings and group time with mentors and mentees.

In March of 2004, after a successful capital campaign, we closed on the purchase of our Bloomfield Retreat House. We celebrated this feat with a special dinner in June for major contributors to the “Y-US Building the Future” campaign.

In October of 2004, we began offering fee-for-service activities to DCF including transportation, emergency respite, and therapeutic recreation and respite care. This is in addition to the four positive youth development programs that we provide.

In May of 2005, significant improvements were made to the Retreat House by St. Ann Cares, a volunteer group affiliated with St. Ann’s church in Avon. Improvements included interior and exterior painting, a new patio, upgraded bathrooms and kitchen, and landscaping.

Y-US has been fortunate to have many dedicated, direct care staff during the years that we have been serving children and their families. A tribute of thanks must be included, for without them, there would be no Y-US serving this community.