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 K-Bar-B Youth Home
Broadway, Inc. is the governing body of two critical programs, K-Bar-B Youth Home and HOYST (Homeless Outreach for Youth in St. Tammany). Occupying 60 acres of beautiful wooded land between Slidell and Lacombe, Louisiana, the property was acquired by the Kiwanis Club of New Orleans in 1946 and was initially used as a summer camp for underprivileged children. In the early 1970s, Broadway, Inc. was formed as a non-profit to create a therapeutic residential program, K-Bar-B Youth Home, to care for Louisiana’s abused children.
The mission of K-Bar-B Youth Home is to offer a healthy environment for abused children and to enhance the capacity of these children and their families to overcome personal, social, and institutional obstacles, which prevent them from reaching their fullest potential in the community.
Over the past four decades, K-Bar-B Youth Home has evolved and expanded. We are currently licensed for up to 23 female foster youth, ages 11-17, most of whom have come from some of the most horrific environments of abuse and/or neglect. It takes an average of one year to complete the residential program, at which time the children are placed in foster homes, reunified with parents or other relatives, adopted, or settled in other abuse-free living arrangements that may include various independent living settings.
HOYST
In 2010, various community leaders became aware of a critical and growing problem in our community. As defined by the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, during the 2010-2011 school year there were approximately 1,500 students identified as homeless, 55 of which classified as not living in an established household in St. Tammany Parish alone. As a result of this shocking and disturbing statistic, a roundtable of concerned individuals primarily representing business and agency leaders, including representatives from Broadway, Inc. which currently operates K-Bar-B Youth Home, was organized to discuss the issues surrounding homeless youth. Accordingly, we began by recognizing the resources currently in our community and the need for a permanent and comprehensive program to address and shelter homeless youth.
In 2011, HOYST (Homeless Outreach for Youth in St. Tammany) originated as a named program of Broadway, Inc. The immediate needs are to raise awareness, develop a program, and secure funding for services and facility development on the grounds where K-Bar-B Youth Home is located.
The mission of HOYST (Homeless Outreach for Youth in St. Tammany) is to decrease homelessness among youth in our community by providing shelter and transitional housing as well as supportive services that will lead to self-sufficiency and stable living conditions.
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