Welcome To Pentz Run Youth Services

We are a residential program for at risk and disadvantaged youth.  We are located in DuBois, PA, a small city with a rural feel in the heart of West Central PA.  Our area affords our residents with educational and vocational opportunities and the ability to access a variety of professional services all with the goal of helping youth become their own very best.

Our Mission Statement at Pentz Run...

To provide a safe, secure, nurturing environment for male and female youth that require short or long-term alternatives to family living.

 

A message from the Director...

"Whether you are with a placing agency and are looking for a residential placement, a family member who is researching, or a youth who is going to be placed with us, there are many questions you may have.  I hope that the information provided here is helpful to all of you and if you have questions, please call us.

In addition to the program descriptions, admission criteria and everything else we have included, I especially would like to add a few of my own expectations of our staff, our residents and their families and the placing agencies.

It is simple, our facility most often becomes home for our residents, we want them to feel comfortable, safe and welcome.  Therefore I expect all of our staff to treat residents and their families with respect and dignity, not because it is a state regulation but because it is the way we run our program and one of the main things we want to teach our residents. In turn, I expect all residents to be respectful of each other and to staff.  Be open minded to the rules and regulations and be willing to strive toward reaching your personal placement goals. 

It is imperative that we keep an open line of communication between our staff and placing agencies and parents/guardians so we can ensure that each child receives the very best care we can provide."

 

History of Pentz Run...

Pentz Run Youth Services, Inc., a non-profit agency, began operations in 1976.  In the early years, when we were known as Bi-County, the focus was on Drug and Alcohol counseling and treatment.  Bi-County started as a halfway house for persons being discharged from D&A treatment programs and evolved into a licensed treatment program, offering inpatient D&A treatment to adolescents as well as outpatient counseling to the general and incarcerated population.

In September of 1994, our program changed direction and became a group home and emergency shelter for adolescents. The group home and emergency shelter provides services for adolescent males and females, ages 10 through 17.  The purpose of the program is to provide a safe, secure, nurturing environment for youth that require short or long-term alternatives to family living. Our program has been designed to provide a highly structured, nurturing environment. Residents are given the opportunity to grow socially, intellectually, physically, morally and spiritually.  We believe the program we have designed provides youth the opportunity to develop these skills and begin putting their lives in order; enabling them to make worthwhile contributions not only to their families, peers, community and society, but also to themselves.  We were originally licensed for 15 beds and increased our capacity to 18 due to an increase in referrals.  We have been successfully operating the group home and shelter for over 20 years with referrals coming from numerous counties in Western/Central PA.  This remains the main focus of our agency due to the continued need for a safe place for high risk and disadvantaged youth.

Our residential programs also include our Transitional Living Program, consisting of two individual apartments located across the street from our main facility.  This program is designed to help older youth gain their independence in a semi-supervised yet totally supportive environment. The apartments are each equipped with their own living/kitchen area, bedroom and bathroom with the two units sharing laundry facilities.

Pentz Run also contracts with several county agencies to provide independent living services to you in the community.  Jefferson, Cameron, Elk, Clearfield and Clarion counties are served by our mobile independent living staff who are able to share resources and ideas enhancing the quality and quantity of services available to the youth in these counties.