Ohio Valley Teen Challenge timeline
TEEN CHALLENGE
Nearly 200 residential Teen Challenge centers across the United States provide care for people of all ages with substance abuse issues. Here are some key dates in the organization’s history.
1958: First Teen Challenge center is constructed by Dave Wilkerson in Brooklyn, N.Y.
1974: Roy Barnett, who grew up in Indiana, moves to Youngstown and marries Cathy Barnett.
1975: Roy Barnett joins Philadelphia Teen Challenge as publications director.
1979: LAMB (Lay Action Ministry of Believers) Ministries residential men’s center opens on Glenwood Avenue.
1982: LAMB adopts Teen Challenge curriculum and format. Kevin Rauch enters program, then located at 130 Cleveland St., as a resident. Center offers four-month program and then sends men to other Teen Challenge centers in U.S.
1984: Rauch graduates from Rehrersburg Pennsylvania Teen Challenge, home of Wilkerson.
1986: LAMB facility closes due to lack of funding.
1987: Rauch returns to Youngstown and helps form the Greater Youngstown Teen Challenge, a crisis and referral outreach center.
1999: Cafaro Memorial Hospital (Youngstown Osteopathic Hospital) closes.
July 2007: Frank Vennes calls Rauch to set up a residential Teen Challenge center in Youngstown.
October 2007: Vennes purchases the Cafaro hospital for $73,000, according to the auditor’s website.
November 2007: Barnett, who is serving on the board for Greater Youngstown Teen Challenge, returns to Youngstown.
September 2008: Barnett and Rauch begin construction of Ohio Valley Teen Challenge at the Florencedale Avenue facility.
January 2009: Hope for Youngstown donates $111,000 to OVTC for kitchen.
March 2009: OVTC opens.
March 2010: Dave Clementi is the first to graduate from Ohio Valley Teen Challenge.
Sources: Ohio Valley Teen Challenge, staff members