Spectrum Youth Center awarded ‘agency of the year’
By Ben Conarck
The Burlington Free Press
Burlington’s Spectrum Youth and Family Services has been chosen the “agency of the year” by the National Network for Youth.
The award will be presented tonight at the network’s national symposium in Washington, D.C.
Victoria Wagner, president of the National Network for Youth, described the center in a news release announcing the award as a “model for other agencies.” The annual award is presented to a network member agency “to honor the vital role that youth agencies play in the healthy development of youth, families and communities.”
Spectrum has offered shelter, counseling and support to at-risk and homeless youth since 1970.
Spectrum’s executive director Mark Redmond said the center’s flagship Spectrum One Stop (SOS) program offers what he describes as a “comprehensive approach” to providing aid for youths in need. He said the approach is exemplified by the fact that the SOS program does not have to refer at-risk youth to see counselors outside the program.
Redmond said the center provides counseling for substance abuse, mental health and job development, along with offering hot meals, shelter, and a free health care clinic.
“Keeping it all under one roof and one program is why people look to us and say, ‘Wow, this is the way to go,’” Redmond said.
Krieg Pinkham, of the Vermont Coalition of Runaway and Homeless Youth Programs, said Spectrum holds “an important place” in the state of Vermont. “Spectrum continually serves as an example and a model to other VCRHYP programs,” he said.
Redmond said more than 700 youths were seen by the drop-in center in 2008. He said about 100 of them stayed in the shelter and were provided with accommodations ranging from a one-night stay to multiple months of care.
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