Love Opens Doors
April 16, 2026
“I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples.”
– Mother Teresa
Thank you for joining us at Love Opens Doors to celebrate 55 years of Youth Focus opening doors to safety, security, and success for young people in our community. Hearing Chandeleer share her journey reminded us all of the powerful ripple effect that begins when just one young person is met with compassion and support. Your generosity keeps those ripples moving, ensuring Youth Focus has the resources needed to continue this life saving work. Click on the link below to watch Chandeleer’s story and consider supporting Love Opens Doors with your donation. Thank you for the doors you open, the ripples you create, and the lives you transform.
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2026 Corporate Sponsors
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How Youth Focus Serves the Community
Youth Focus has served the greater Greensboro area for 55 years and maintains a strong, family-based approach to care, involving parents, other family members, and caregivers whenever possible.
As the challenges facing youth evolve, so does Youth Focus. Over time, we added additional services in areas where we saw a strong need in the community. Our commitment to the youth and families we serve and the local community remains unwavering, and we will continue to grow with the youth we serve.
Youth Focus is funded through a combination of local/state/federal partnerships and private donations from people like you. As the funding landscape continues to evolve, we become increasingly dependent on the financial support of the local community we serve. Additionally, many of the funds that Youth Focus brings to Guilford County from state and federal resources require the local community’s investment.
Emergency Housing
Free emergency housing for male, female, and gender nonconforming youth ages 11-17 who need temporary safe shelter.
Transitional Living
Youth ages 18-24 who are experiencing homelessness receive rent assistance and support services to help them achieve their educational and professional goals for long-term independence.
Outpatient Counseling
No cost Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT) for youth ages 6-24 to address the trauma that often shows as emotional or behavioral difficulty.
Safe Place
When teens find themselves in crisis or need a place to stay, they should know how and where to get help. Safe Place provides access to immediate help and supportive resources for youth in need. Safe Place locations are easily recognized by their vibrant yellow signs.
Maternity Housing
Supportive housing for pregnant or parenting women between the ages of 16 and 21 who are experiencing homelessness for various reasons. Mothers and their dependent children can live at the house for up to 18 months while working on goals that will allow them to provide a good home for their children.
Supportive Housing
Supportive housing for male, female, and gender-nonconforming youth ages 18-21 who are experiencing homelessness in a supervised yet independent living environment. During the program, youth gain needed independent living skills.
About Youth Focus
In 1971, Youth Focus began providing group home and outpatient counseling services in Guilford County. Over the next several decades, the continuum of services grew to include outpatient counseling and substance use treatment, intensive in-home therapy, therapeutic foster care, medication management, residential substance use treatment, emergency and supportive housing, therapeutic schools, and residential psychiatric treatment.
Our Mission Statement
Helping youth achieve safety, security, and success.
In response to the growing value-based managed healthcare environment and Medicaid reform in North Carolina, Youth Focus merged its behavioral health services with Alexander Youth Network in 2019. Retaining the Alexander name, the newly combined organization became firmly established as the leader in children’s behavioral healthcare in North Carolina.
With this transition, Youth Focus narrowed its services to focus on the needs of the most vulnerable youth in Guilford County, who are at-risk, in crisis, have run away, or are experiencing homelessness. Youth Focus provides needed supportive housing solutions and trauma-informed counseling, so youth receive the help they need today to have hope for the future.