Addiction treatment is how Project Renewal began and it has been a core focus of ours for almost forty years. Back in 1967, we started up a tiny, highly ambitious program for the men known as "Bowery bums" - alcoholics who lived in the dozens of flophouses in the lower east side of Manhattan. (We were then known as the Manhattan Bowery Project and later Manhattan Bowery Corporation). That initial project was the earliest of many 'firsts': it set out to prove people could 'detox' - endure the often dangerous symptoms of withdrawal from alcohol - without going into the hospital.

And it worked.

This first success led to other 'firsts': helping to establish a national agency for alcohol addiction, helping to decriminalize alcoholism; establishing the city's first residential treatment program for alcoholics; and setting up the nation's first NON-medical detox unit for alcoholics.

Today, our range of programs serves people with every type of addiction: alcoholics, drug addicts and former heroin addicts on methadone maintenance. As with all our programs, we seek to take people where they ARE and help them move forward.

How do you help men and women who have been homeless for 2 or more years and are turned away from traditional programs because they can't get sober for the required 3-6 months before admission? You try a new approach. If the traditional continuum of treatment- with housing as the final step- shuts out some men and women who have been homeless the longest, then a "housing first" model might be their only hope.

In 2003, Project Renewal proposed to take 40 homeless adults who were turned away from other programs and place them in their own apartments immediately.

A multidisciplinary team would bring services directly to men and women to guide them in recovery. The team included social workers, peer counselors, a psychiatric nurse and physician, and a housing manager. They offered support, counseling, medical care, help with the activitites of daily living, entitlements, and employment services. Over the past four years, the team built strong and trusting relationships with their clients, made them feel better physically, and helped them create a new life.

We are proud that 86% of our In Homes Now clients have stayed housed over the past four years. Drinking and drug use lessened, physical and mental health improved. In short, they got better. How do these results compare with the results of traditional, or "housing second" models? Just the same, according to Dr. Robert Rosenheck, an epidemiologist from Yale University, who evaluated our clients at three-month intervals. He confirmed what we suspected: a housing first model can work as well as our other programs in improving the lives of homeless adults - and it means giving homes to those who otherwise might never make it. For those who are shut out of other programs, In Homes Now may be their only hope for leaving the streets behind.

"The staff at the outpatient counseling program gave me a lot of hope." more...

We also run a highly successful state-licensed drug and alcohol treatment clinic for clients at our residential treatment programs. Located at Third Street, the clinic provides one-on-one and group counseling to help clients rebuild their lives without drugs and alcohol and ensure they stay connected to all-important support systems once they've graduated. Clients get complete assessments, individualized plans for care, medical and psychiatric care and help with finding employment.

Often, for people in the throes of active addiction, that next step is detox, so Project Renewal created a 32-bed chemical dependency Crisis Center. There, medically-trained personnel help clients through the physically and emotionally challenging process of withdrawal.

The Detox is a non-hospital medical detox clinic for homeless men which includes medical care and counseling for long-term treatment.

This transitional housing program for 24 men in recovery from substance abuse offers couseling and job training. The clients acquire employment skills through working with the Times Square Business Improvement District. At the same time, residents are enrolled in our licensed outpatient treatment program. The combination of treatment, support, life skills and work speaks for itself: 95% of Renewal House graduates become fully employed; 99% become permanently housed.

Located in Garrison, NY, Renewal Farm is a six-month work-training program for 24 homeless men in recovery from substance abuse who are struggling to rebuild their lives. Organized around operating an organic farm and retail business, the program trains men in marketable skills and places them in jobs and housing when they complete the program. Along with the vocation component, farm participants participate in St. Christopher's Inn intensive 60 day substance abuse treatment program.

During the growing season, a farm stand is set-up offering a range of organically grown seasonal produce including luscious lettuce, peppery arugula, vitamin rich greens and fragrant annual and perennial herbs.  As the season progresses summer squash, tomatoes, flowers and other delicious vegetables will be available.

The summer season is a great time to enjoy fresh produce from Renewal Farm - as recently mentioned in The Journal News. Farm-stand hours (throughout the growing season) and location:

Thursdays, 10 AM - 3:00 PM: Highlands Land Trust on Snake Hill Road and Route 9 D, Garrison, New York.

Fridays and Sundays, 10 AM - 3:00 PM: St. Christopher's Inn Thrift Shop, located on Route 9 in Garrison, New York.

For details contact David Harrington, Project Renewal Program Director at (845) 335-1141.

See what the Putnam County News and Recorder wrote about Renewal Farm in August 2010.

See what the New York Times wrote about Renewal Farm in August 2009.

Read about Sarah Jones reading from Lee Stringer's book to open the Reading Room at Third Street in Newsday.

In 2001, we converted the 100-bed Kenton Hall residence, just around the corner from Third Street, into the city's first program shelter for homeless men on methadone maintenance. The Kenton had been one of the Bowery's most notorious flophouses before we took it over in 1994 and it became the three-month re-entry program for graduates of Renewal on the Bowery. But in 2001, before the conversion, an estimated 1500 homeless people on methadone maintenance languished in shelters, unable to access treatment programs that required participants to be drug free. Like Project Renewal's other treatment programs, clients at Kenton Hall receive comprehensive health, support , housing and employment services so that they may live successfully in the community.

"New Providence was very different...they were very supportive. That is what I really wanted and it was very helpful for me...Since I left Project Renewal, I feel confidant." more...

For women interested in rebuilding their lives without substances, there is New Providence in midtown Manhattan. This program helps women who suffer from addiction and mental illness address the issues that led to their becoming addicted and homeless in the first place, while garnering the tools to live independently - and successfully - in the community.

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