PROGRAMS
Star House recognizes that any one of us needs the following four essentials, consistently and simultaneously, in order to thrive: health/well-being, a good job to cover living expenses; affordable housing; and supportive relationships. Star House staff are connecting young people in Central Ohio with all four through our drop-in center, Carol Stewart Village, Star Works and programs that foster supportive relationships, such as the Open Table Mentor program. You can learn more about our drop in center program here and our other programs below.
CAROL STEWART VILLAGE
STAR
WORKS
OPEN TABLE MENTOR
PROGRAM
Star House recently partnered with Finance Fund to build and open Carol Stewart Village, a neighborhood for emerging adults in Franklinton.
Star House connects young people experiencing homelessness with transitional employment opportunities through our workforce development program, Star Works.
Star House connects young people with supportive relationships through The Open Table program. Are you interested in becoming a mentor to youth at Star House?
Carol Stewart Village
Home and a chance to thrive
Each year, thousands of young people in Central Ohio struggle to navigate from adolescence to independence and fall into homelessness. At Star House’s Milo Grogan
drop-in center in 2019, we saw a rolling population of 115 homeless youth and their small children daily, up from 65 per day in 2018. Last year, we served 1,285 individuals,
offering them safe respite and a chance to thrive. Through continuous best practice research with our partner, The Ohio State University, we know that the
number one cause of our guests’ homelessness is disconnection from family and that a leading predictor of exiting homelessness is a supportive community.
To successfully transition into long-term housing stability, any one of us needs to sustain the following four assets: affordable housing, a living-wage career, health & well-being and a supportive community. Without all four in place, we are susceptible to chronic
housing instability— living without a place to call home. Our institutional vision for central Ohio youth is that they have a home and a chance to thrive. Our drop-in center serves as the gateway to thriving for our guests— offering outreach to the streets, connection to food, clothing, safe respite, health care, therapy, case management, and access to housing, jobs, education, legal aid, mentoring and more. A strong partner base for our current services has ensured that we are ready to take an important next step toward our strategic vision: Establish a neighborhood for young people, ages 18-24, connecting them with best-in-class housing, living wage jobs and certification, health and well being, and social
connections, all on one site.
Star House and Finance Fund have partnered to transform two blighted motels, situated on four acres in Franklinton, into 62 below-market-rate studio apartments with on-site
access to education and transitional employment; resources like mental and physical health care; and intentional social connections through mentoring and
opportunities to engage in the Franklinton community.
The multi-building campus is named Carol Stewart Village after a long-time, Franklinton civic advocate. Star House and Finance Fund will provide housing for up to 62 young people, ages 18-24, in the first year at Carol Stewart Village. With $1.6M in funding from the City of Columbus, $1.0M in funding from Federal Home Loan Bank, support from AEP, Anthem, City of Columbus/Affordable Housing Trust, COCIC, Crane Group, FHLB, Greer Foundation, Installed Building Products, Mike and Paige Crane, Peggy Kelley, PNC, Siemer Family Foundation and an anonymous fund, Carol Stewart Village will create a community within a community. At a total cost of $4.5M, this project is a signature investment in Franklinton— a neighborhood poised for significant growth.
Star Works
Star Works connects young people experiencing homelessness with transitional employment opportunities through on-site social enterprise and workforce development partners.
The path to success for our youth is too often filled with setbacks due to catch-22 barriers. For example, youth lacking stable housing, income and transportation experience greater difficulties gaining traction to achieve and sustain employment. In order to achieve stability, many young people first need flexible skill development and transitional employment opportunities that align with their current state of instability. To address this need, we created Star Works, a trauma-informed workforce development program that is delivered on-site at Star House and will be delivered at our Carol Stewart Village location. The program, a partnership with workforce development and social enterprise partners, such as Columbus Works, Goodwill Columbus, Columbus City Schools, Wild Tiger Tees, and Peace + Love + Bling, offers temporary, flexible, trauma-informed training and transitional employment as well as connections to livable wages and long-term employment options. Star Works removes barriers to completing training and gaining employment by working with youth to solve the issues that may cause them to lose more traditional jobs.
Shop hand-crafted products:
Open Table Mentor Program
Young people need supportive relationships in order to thrive. In fact, we know through our research with The Ohio State University that social connections are a leading predictor of exiting homelessness. What’s more, research also tells us that mentoring has been proven more successful than therapy for youth who have experienced trauma.
The Open Table program, offered at Star House, connects individual Star House guests with a table of six to eight mentors who they meet with once a week for one year to goal-set, goal-report and thrive. Five tables have been formed so far for Star House guests. If you are interested in becoming a mentor, please let us know by sending an email via the link below.