Our History

About Us

1888

Alexander Youth Network Founded

Alexander Youth Network was founded by the women of Charlotte’s
First and Second Presbyterian Churches
as a rescue mission for women and children.

1894

The Alexander Children’s Home

R.B. Alexander, a farmer, and grocer devoted to the welfare of children, donated a home located at McDowell and Third Streets. The Alexander Children’s Home, as it would be known, served as a haven for poverty-stricken, displaced women and orphaned children for several decades.

1946

Alexander Altered its Mission

Acting on the recommendations from
the Child Welfare League of America, Alexander altered its mission to focus on children suffering from emotional disturbance
and mental illness.

1947

First Psychiatric Social Worker

Alexander employed
its first psychiatric social worker to organize
and direct a treatment program for mentally challenged children.

1966

Alexander Children’s Home Relocated

Alexander Children’s Home relocated to a new campus-like facility built on a former dairy farm donated by longtime friend of the agency, Edward Turner Garsed. Over time, the campus expanded to provide a school for special needs children and later a child development center.

1990

Alexander Began Expanding

Alexander began expanding its program offerings to provide a more comprehensive approach to treatment and added a day treatment/year-round school program and developed group homes to facilitate moving children out of campus residential programs and back into the community.

2003

Merged with Youth Network

Alexander merged with YouthNetwork, a Charlotte-based agency that helped Alexander expand and add additional services for older children, several new community-based programs, and a shelter for children in crisis, now known in the community as The Relatives.

2019

Merged with Youth Focus

Alexander Youth Network merged with Guilford County-based mental health provider Youth Focus to expand its comprehensive mental health services
to children across North Carolina. Youth Focus offers crisis services, emergency housing, maternity housing, and more.

2023

Further Expansion

Alexander Youth Network celebrates 135 years of transforming children’s mental health. We continue to lead the way in children’s mental health.

Fast Facts

Alexander Youth Network and its affiliates provide over 10,000 services through our array to children and families.

Alexander is a 501c3 North Carolina nonprofit corporation and receives funding from fee-for-services as well as from contributions from individuals, corporations, foundations, and government agencies.

Alexander serves North Carolina children and young adults ages 5-21.

Alexander provides a comprehensive array of children’s behavioral healthcare services in three categories: outpatient, residential, and community-based services.

Children ages 5 to 18 are referred to Alexander by hospitals, physicians, parents, schools, and state and county organizations such as departments of social services, the juvenile justice system, and area mental health programs.

The U.S. Surgeon General estimates that 1 in 5 children suffer from a mental health disturbance.

Alexander’s goal is to provide children and their families with a full array of services so that transitions between treatment programs are smoother, and valuable relationships have a chance to grow.