Our mission is to empower teenagers, young adults, and their families to make and sustain positive changes through prevention, intervention, and life skills services.
Former Vermont Governor Jim Douglas signs H.449 into law, raising the age limit of youth in foster care from 18 to 21 in Spectrum’s Drop-In Center in 2007.
We offer emergency shelter and transitional housing for young people ages 16-24 in Burlington and St. Albans.
Detail Works is a social enterprise designed to help young people build the soft skills and trade skills they need in the workplace.
Annie Cooper, Essex High School parent and organizer of the EHS Student Sleep Out, wrote this blog post about their team’s experience. As of this writing, the group raised $2200 to support homeless and at-risk youth in Vermont. At 5:15 am on Friday, March 28th, with an inch of snow layered over sleeping heads, bags, …
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Each year at Spectrum, we work with over 200 young people who have aged out of foster care or state custody. Kayla is one such woman—she was just 8 years old when she had a neighbor call the police for her to get herself placed in foster care. Vermont author Chris Bohjalian spoke with her …
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Listen in as our Shelter Coordinator, Sarah Shaughnessey, talks about Spectrum’s shelter—how youth hear about the shelter, what is expected of them, what resources are available and how the shelter helps them transition into adulthood. Sarah and her staff work around the clock to ensure youth who stay at the shelter have a warm place …
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As a teen, Lynn Castro was couch-surfing with friends when they lost their apartment and she found she had nowhere to go. A friend had heard of the Spectrum shelter and dropped her off with all of her belongings. “What will they help me with?” she asked. “Everything,” he said. Watch the video to find …
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