At-risk youth ages 16 - 20 join our community to develop skills and habits to overcome obstacles and live independently as adults. The Dale House Project also invites young adults to engage deeply with the joys and heartbreaks of ministry among youth on the margins to become formed for a lifetime of Christian service.
The Dale House Project provides young people with healing, empowerment, and connection to send them out into the world transformed by what they have experienced in our community.
Youth ages 17-21 join us to overcome challenges and develop skills to live independently as adults in their communities.
Young adults (ages 22+) come to experience the joys and heartbreaks of ministry and to discover their identity and vocation as Chrisitan leaders.
We are a launchpad for young people to engage the broader world with the support and clarity to live into God’s purpose for their life.
We seek to celebrate and have fun with one another.
We resolve conflict, seek to address past wounds, and hope for healing and forgiveness, discovering new possibilities in our relationships.
Just as the Kingdom of God is often hard to see, we recognize that the success of our ministry may not always be what we expect.
We value risk-taking and developing potential in each other that we did not know we possessed.
We create an environment where people experience a home away from home where they can always return.
We see past the masks we wear to make real connections between each other.
The Dale House Project got its start in the early 1970s, when George Sheffer III opened up his home to the kids he worked with as a volunteer at a detention center. In 1971 the Sheffer family received a grant to start a home for street kids. It became a crash pad for the lost or wandering, who would stay for several nights at a time.
Since its first year, the Dale House has brought in young adults from across the country to serve on staff. Our staff spend a year living in our community, building relationships with our residents, and reflecting on the nature of Christian ministry among at-risk youth.
Since leaving the Dale House our staff have moved on into careers in a variety of places. Many continued on as social workers, pastors, doctors, nurses, lawyers, business owners.