The new Enhanced Horizons Center for Advancement is now open and providing help for young adults between ages 18 and 24 who do not have traditional families to help them during their transitional years. An Open House held at the campus on March 30 gave the public a chance to see inside the newly refurbished facility, and to hear from its leadership.

With speeches from Dr. Bill Blackburn, president of Partners in Ministry, Youth Ranch founder and Executive Director Gary Priour, HCYR Board President Wes Dorman, and Charter Schools Superintendent Mike Wood, along with a video message of support from U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, the new center welcomed a large crowd of well-wishers, fed them lunch, and conducted tours.

"Long the lost generation of the foster care system," Priour said, "newly graduated young adults often flounder in a limbo of sparse financial, educational, emotional and social support."

Unless they attend college these young adults have essentially been left to fend for themselves once they turn 18 and age out of foster care.

"That changes for many area youth with the introduction of Enhanced Horizons' new model of a transitional bridge, designed to ease these young people into life on their own, whether preparing for life among the employed or pursuing their educational goals," he said.

The center will focus on providing a complete support system, from housing to counseling to vocational training to higher education, allowing residents to make their way to a readiness for supporting themselves financially and realizing their potential.

By providing this interim residential facility, HCYR hopes to decrease some of the success-threatening dangers of post-foster care life, and to complete a long-envisioned continuum of care for at-risk youth.

"I see the need all the time - young people in transition need our help," Dr. Blackburn told the large crowd that assembled for the grand opening.

"I hope our community will become more focused on youth, and Enhanced Horizons is key to making our efforts a success."

Dorman told about how the Floyd A. and Kathleen C. Cailloux Foundation approached HCYR in 2007 to discuss the issue of young adults aging out of foster care with no place to go.

"They invited us to come for a meeting and laid out what they thought might be a solution," Dorman said. "The solution is what you're seeing today . . . Enhanced Horizons and this campus."

He said the HCYR Board had expressed reluctance about spending limited resources on a new program, but "I walked out of that meeting with no doubt in my mind that we were being called by the vision of the Cailloux Foundation to accept this challenge and provide services that are so badly needed.

"Thanks to the vision of the Cailloux Foundation, Enhanced Horizons is a reality and not just a dream," Dorman said.

Wood said community involvement and support are needed to make the program a success.

"Our federal Homeless Youth grant pays for basic program needs, but many of the daily needs of the young adults are not covered - things as simple as clothes for job interviews, transportation to and from work, and mentors to provide life lessons or training for their chosen trade," he said. "There is so much that is not yet funded."

In a video message from Hutchison played at the event, the U.S. Senator said, "Last December I was delighted to announce that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services had awarded HCYR a grant enabling them to address this need by launching the Enhanced Horizons Transitional Center.

"With this new program the Ranch will now be able to provide a support network for these young adults once they graduate from high school; and even after they leave the Ranch they will still have a place to call home should they need to return," she said. "I'm thrilled to see all the wonderful things being done by the Hill Country Youth Ranch, and I look forward to continuing to work with you on these important efforts."