The board of directors of Youthaven Public Ecovillage is now seeking support from the community (from individuals, organizations, or businesses) for our services to the at-risk children living in Hamilton County in general and Cincinnati in particular. An overview of our organization and description of our services are discussed below.

Our mission is to care for vulnerable teenagers in a new group care model founded on evidence-based, ecological, and creative strategies. The new model is based on Dr. Glenn Kendall"s Ph.D. study (2014), "Understanding the Effectiveness of Group Care Models: Enhancing Group Care Services for Homeless, Abused, and Runaway Children." The study used a triangulation methodology that included agency personnel (management), program staff (direct services), and a focus group (recipient of services–foster care, homeless, and runaway young adults) to ascertain recommendations to improve the foster care group home model for homeless and vulnerable adolescents. The study recommended transforming a traditional foster care group home model into a public ecovillage. In line with this thinking, our model is expanded to include a nonresidential component for students living with obesity and overweight challenges.

As you can see, over half of all Cincinnati"s foster care children are placed outside the county for the lack of group care beds for children (Chris Graves, 2017). Meanwhile, the prospects for a significant percentage of them look bleak after emancipation. The situation is far worse for homeless teens, for which there are 27,000 living in Ohio. The breakdown by age in Cincinnati is the following according to Strategies to End Homelessness, Inc.

By Age	No.	Percent	Comments
Birth to 5 Years Old	549	8%	25% of our homeless population is under the age of 18 37% are under the age of 25
5 to 12 Years Old	649	9
13 to 17 Years Old	516	8%
18 to 24 Years Old	825	12%

https://www.strategiestoendhomelessness.org/who-is-homeless/

According to Kendall (2014) Ph.D. study, one working definition of an ecovillage includes

“a human scale, full-featured settlement, in which human activities are harmlessly integrated into the natural world, in a way that is supportive of healthy human development and can be successfully continued into the indefinite future (Retrieved November 10, 2009, from www.gaia.org/mediafiles/gaia/resources/HJackson (P. 57)." Kendall also documents that there are no public-oriented ecovillages anywhere in the United States or around the world; all ecovillages serve a private constituency. The YHPE board wants to significantly change this focus by transforming the foster care group home structure into a public ecovillage helping our most vulnerable children, starting first in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Some of the features of Youthaven Public Ecovillage worth mentioning incorporate renewable energy systems, urban farming, a restorative & normative culture, social-responsibility, humane (solutionary) education and entrepreneurial approaches, and nutritional services addressing the issues of childhood obesity and overweight.

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