According to Lighthouse Youth Center Director Renee Hagan, Swartz's kindness won her fans among the young men, one of whom recently commented: "she is one of the nicest persons I have ever met."

By expanding its capacity, Lighthouse can help three times as many young people get into independent housing.

The Sheakley Center for Youth is an all-in-one facility. There is a day shelter on the first floor, an overnight shelter with individual dorms and efficiency apartments for independent living. Clients will move through toward independence as they move through their case plan. The building is an attempt to give people ages 18-24 a home-like environment with the support they need to make changes in their life.

Young adults who enter the shelter at the new Sheakley Center for Youth will be greeted by a wall of living plants designed by Tyler Wolf of Urban Blooms: “If plants can grow on the wall, what possibilities are there for their own lives.”

Nearly 40 percent of the area’s homeless are under the age of 25, and the number is growing. Lighthouse Youth & Family Services, the only local agency focused on serving homeless youth, is leading the effort to end youth homelessness in Cincinnati by 2020. Today, we’re proud to announce that construction of the building at the center of this effort, the new Lighthouse Sheakley Center for Youth, is complete. 

Teenagers at Lighthouse Youth Center at Paint Creek have created a beautiful welcome to campus. Phillip Martin, a local artist, helped them paint a mural which contains our core values and components of Paint Creek's educational, treatment, and vocational programs.

Some Amazon “elves” from the Hebron Fulfillment Center delivered a sleigh filled with Christmas presents to children at Lighthouse Youth and Family Services in Cincinnati.

Amazon gave in a big way to families in Greater Cincinnati. The company donated $15,000 worth of toys and supplies to Lighthouse Youth & Family Services.

Christopher and Christina Sanders completed a two-year journey last spring by adopting six children into their family. Judge Ralph Winkler presided over the adoption and said he hopes the commitment by the Sanders will inspire other people to adopt children. We hope so too, Judge Winkler! Now Ellen DeGeneres has given the Sanders a surprise of a lifetime. No better way to recognize wonderful families during Adoption Month.