History of Sage

Generating Collaborative Community Support for At-Risk Youth:
Sage Community Partnership was started by Eric Shulz in 2002. The focus of the non-profit was to facilitate community support to best serve boulder county at-risk youth. Initially, Sage CP developed an acknowledgement program focused on appreciating community leaders, service providers and exceptional youth in Boulder County. The goal of Sage CP’s acknowledgment program was to recognize devoted individuals who have gone above and beyond to provide the best services for at-risk youth in the area. The awards Sage CP grants have included the Community Policy Leadership Award, the Direct Service Provider Award and the Youth Achievement Award. Vocational and Educational grants are also given on a less formal basis to various youth. Sage Cp in constantly looking to expand the awards it grants to continue to foster the appreciation and collaboration in our community. Furthermore, Sage Cp is in the process of organizing a Transition Age At- Risk Youth Community Task Force focused on providing better and more collaborative support for system involved youth . In addition to community recognition and collaboration programs, Sage Cp started an adolescent residential treatment program, Polaris House. However, in 2006 Polaris House changed the population it served and became the first stage of the Polaris Transitional Living Program, serving young men between the ages of 17 and 23, who are trying to become successful, independent, system free adults. Sage CP has also recently initiated the process of beginning the first female treatment stream for transition age females in Boulder County.

Developing a Male Treatment Stream, Polaris Transitional Living Program:
Initially organized in the fall of 2002, Sage Community Partnership’s genesis grew from the recognized need for a structured and therapeutic residential opportunity for adolescent boys in the Boulder County. At that time there were few options available to keep adolescents from our community, in our community, when they were no longer able to reside in their homes of origin. Adolescents with histories of abuse and neglect, mental health challenges, behavioral issues, substance abuse issues, and delinquency concerns, were staying in high cost, out-of-county facilities, often longer than necessary, because of a lack of residential options within Boulder County. Determined to create another option for our at-risk youth, Sage CP created Polaris House Adolescent Residential Program.

Our flagship program, Polaris House Adolescent Residential Program, opened in July of 2003 in a residential North Boulder neighborhood. Polaris House was a collaboration between Sage Community Partnership, the IMPACT Program, the Mental Health Center of Boulder County, the Boulder County Juvenile Probation Department, the Boulder County Department of Social Services, and Boulder Housing Partners. As a residential group home for adolescent boys ages 16 to 18 years, Polaris House served youth who were in the legal custody of the Boulder County Department of Social Services. Polaris House provided a wide variety of supportive programming in order to increase affective, academic and vocational achievement, to reintegrate kids who had been placed outside of their home community, and ultimately to create healthy, sustainable transitions to family or independent living situations. Our ultimate goal was to reduce the incidence of juvenile recidivism and the propensity of juveniles to end up in adult systems after turning 18 years of age. Since its inception, 55 adolescent boys have benefited from Polaris House programming.

With Boulder County’s exceptional web of intervention and support agencies that provide treatment for at-risk children and adolescents under 18, Polaris House residents had access to a wide range of support. As we witnessed at Polaris House, most system involved youth thrive with such wide support and work toward goals of high school graduation, vocational achievement and personal independence. Unfortunately, traditional support services terminate abruptly at the age of 18 and many youth are then left to fend for themselves. Without supportive transitional services, approximately 65% of those youth never realize their goals, suffering high rates of recidivism, academic failure, homelessness and adult system dependence. As an adolescent residential program, we could not continue to watch successful kids, abruptly collapse because they could no longer access the support system they thrived off of before they turned 18.

Beginning in January of 2006, Polaris House slightly shifted its mission and population to help young adults transition from the support services they relied on before they turned 18 to independent living as adults. Polaris House became the focal point in Sage's expanded Transitional Living Program Services. This Program provides residential, vocational and Educational services and support to 17 to 23 year olds who, when under the age of 18 years, had an open case with either the Department of Social Services, Mental Health Center or the Juvenile Probation Department. Polaris now serves as a transitional, affordable, and supportive residential home, for emancipating, system involved young adults.

Expanding Sage Cp’s Transitional Living Programs:
Sage Cp is in the process of expanding the male treatment stream beyond Polaris House into the Polaris Transitional Living Program and is developing the first female treatment stream for this population, the Vega Transitional Living Program. The Polaris and Vega Transitional Living Programs consist of five stages over a period of 4 years. Our 5 stage program intends to provide marginalized young adults aging out of system services with the opportunity to make a healthy and successful transition towards becoming an independent adult. As a client progresses from Stage I to Stage V, the intensity of our support systems diminish as they foster greater independent living skills. Our ultimate goal for our Transitional Living Programs is to asses every system involved youth in Boulder County and provide them with or direct them to support services that best fit their needs. In conjunction with ongoing support systems, we are conducting outcome based tracking for all clients to determine through research what at-risk youth aging out of the foster care system, the juvenile justice system, and the department of social services need to decrease recidivism and ensure their success as independent adults.