Salem's Plummer Home For Boys To Change Name

SALEM, MA – The Plummer Home will change its name to Plummer Youth Promise after decades of being The Plummer Home For Boys.

The new name seeks to better reflect the nonprofit's mission of serving young people in need. The Plummer Home was established as a reform school for wayward boys in 1855, and now offers residential programs, including one to house young men and women referred by juvenile court, and a foster care program.

"Our Promise is to do everything we can to find these young men and women a safe, emotionally secure parenting relationship – either with biological family members or with new families," said Nicole McLaughlin, Plummer’s Director of Strategy and Advancement.

Plummer Youth Project uses an Intervention Model to make sure young people have a family while they build their social and vocational skills.

"What’s most exciting is that our innovative Intervention Model is working," said Shane MacMaster, Director of Operations for Plummer, noting that in 2016, 70 percent of youth in their Group Home left having a safe, emotionally secure parenting relationship. "People sometimes make the mistake of assuming that teens don’t want or need family, or that it’s not possible to connect or reconnect them with family. Our experience shows otherwise. It’s a rewarding thing to see."

Each year, 1,000 teens in Massachusetts, and 23,000 nationally, leave foster care with no family to count on. Without that permanent connection, statistics show these kids face grim outcomes. They are more likely to drop out of school, be unemployed and become homeless.

Image via Plummer Youth Project