EVERETT — A resource for at-risk youth is growing as the nonprofit Cocoon House will soon open the doors to its new center on Colby Avenue.
“We’ve been talking about this becoming a reality for three to four years ... it’s surreal” how close opening day is, Cocoon House CEO Joe Alonzo said.
The three-floor community center is at 3530 Colby Ave. It lets the agency work with vulnerable teens with a more cohesive approach.
The larger building ties together the agency’s drop-in day center called U-Turn, some of its short-term and long-term housing and its administrative offices under one roof.
It creates long-term housing for young adults 18 to 24 to help them transition to adulthood.
The facility adds on-site medical examination services, and continues to provide counseling for drug and alcohol abuse as well as life skills and job training.
“It’s amazing ... beautiful. (It has) all the services young people will need,” said former Cocoon House CEO Cassie Franklin, who is today Everett’s mayor.
Putting a patchwork of youth services in one place erases barriers, agency leaders said. Some street teens may be traveling far on foot or by city bus.
Housing 18- to 24-year-olds is new for the nonprofit, and important.
The age bracket represented about one-fourth of Everett’s homeless population in 2014, Franklin said. “I took that to heart,” she said on when the new center was being shaped.
The agency’s caseworkers already work with people in this age group.
The Colby Avenue center should open later this month or in early May, Alonzo said. The first open house takes place Thursday morning.
Future tours are planned.
Cocoon House will continue to operate its emergency shelter in Monroe, its short-term teen housing center in North Everett and its long-term home for teen moms in Arlington.
Navigators and agency staff meet upwards of 2,500 young people a year, but few take residence with Cocoon House, Alonzo explained. Most contacts are one-time encounters.
These are the runaways, but also the teens who get kicked out of home for a variety of reasons. Some arrive with their belongings in black garbage bags.
They are often skeptical of adults and especially social service workers, and have to be coaxed to take help.
Reunification with family is always Cocoon House’s goal.For those who won’t accept being reunited, the agency’s short-term housing provides stability.
There will be 20 dorm-style units with individual bedrooms for teenagers to provide short-term housing on the second floor, plus 20 more dorm-style rooms for young adults 18 to 24 acting as transitional housing on the third floor.
“I cried when I walked into one of the rooms.” Franklin said from a preview tour, calling the rooms “bright, light... (and) it’s safe.”
“Now, (the kids) can start dreaming again.”
The Colby site will not act as an emergency shelter, and that’s partly by design. Youth who are newly in the agency’s care may become overwhelmed by a dorm-style experience, Alonzo said.
Adding young adults erases the cut-off point to get Cocoon House services.
“We see a lot of youth who magically become an adult at 18 and they’re not ready,” Alonzo said.
Through housing, the center helps stabilize teens and young adults to help them establish themselves with career skills and to move on to permanent housing.
The new center increases Cocoon House’s capacity to 66 units. The nonprofit also contracts with a network of landlords for housing.
People in trouble can call or text 425-877-5171 to get help now.
Its Safe Place program has navigators driving countywide to meet and pick up teens who contact that number for help.
The drop-in service at U-Turn serves a separate purpose.
As a drop-in day center, there are showers, a kitchen, laundry services and a lounge. Part of its goal is for a teen to hang loose and simply be a teen, Alonzo said.
The new center dedicates a much more space than the old U-Turn facility Cocoon House put together at a relatively nondescript building on north Broadway.
It will have a full music studio, with a staffer on-hand to assist. The old place housed an amateur music studio that turned out to be popular.
There are also career training and life skills classes. Life skills are important for growing teenagers and young adults whose circumstances may not have given them an education in how to handle adulthood.
The site at 3530 Colby Ave. used to be United Methodist Church. The church was demolished and a groundbreaking occurred last fall.
After the new site opens, Cocoon House will sell its Pine Avenue center and building on Broadway that housed U-Turn.
Tour the new center
Cocoon House will hold multiple free open house dates at the new center. Tours are free and self-guided.
The tour schedule is for Thursday, April 18 from 10 a.m. to noon; Saturday, May 18 from 9 to 10 a.m.; Wednesday, May 22 from 4 to 6 p.m.; plus dates in June, July and August.
Registration is requested.
Register online through https://cocoontour.eventbrite.com
