Since 1974, the community has looked to The Relatives to provide youth and young adults in crisis with relief, acceptance, and empowerment.
The Relatives serves young people ages 7-24 through two distinct locations. The Youth Crisis Center, located on East Blvd, serves youth ages 7-17. As Mecklenburg County’s sole crisis shelter serving youth and adolescents, we provide immediate relief and a safe place for homeless and runaway youth.
The On Ramp Resource Center serves young adults ages 16-24 by helping them become healthy, productive, engaged members of the community.
On Ramp began in 2010 as a room in the Children and Family Services building. In its first year of operation, The Relatives planned to serve 12 young adults. We served over 200. On Ramp then moved from our original location to an office building in Uptown Charlotte. The move allowed us to provide approximately 500 young adults per year with help finding housing and employment, as well as access to on-site counseling, GED tutoring, and health and wellness workshops.
According to the Leading On Opportunity Taskforce there are 45,500 disconnected youth in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg community. These disconnected young people lack education, employment, and the support systems necessary to transition to independent adulthood. The Relatives knows a successful transition to adulthood can change the trajectory of their life.
To better serve this growing population, the On Ramp Resource Center has moved to a new, larger location on Freedom Drive. Double the size, our new building will allow us to serve three times the number of young adults, offer more robust programming as well as shower and laundry facilities.
The Youth Crisis Center on East Blvd will continue to meet the immediate needs of youth ages 7-17, while the On Ramp Resource Center will grow to offer more young adults ages 16-24 a path to stability and independence.
