Home  |  About Us  |  Programs  |  Upcoming Events  |  Employment  |  Directions  |  Links  |  Contact Us

New Pathways Newsletter  |  Success Stories

Independence Plus

Independence Plus is an apartment-housed, community-housed, independent living program for male and female youth between the ages of seventeen and twenty-one years.  The program provides housing, case management services, and life skills training to help youth in the transition from adolescence to adulthood.  New Pathways developed the Independence Plus program in response to the need for continued care for foster care youth over the age of eighteen who could not return home or did not have the skills to live on their own.  The Maryland Department of Human Resources licenses the program as an Independent Living Program with unlimited capacity. Independence Plus leases apartments in several complexes in the Baltimore metropolitan area. One apartment in each complex is used as staff field office.

Each client is assigned a Case Manager who is responsible for coordinating program activities.  A service agreement and a transition plan are executed between the client, New Pathways, and the placing agency representative.  The emphasis of the transition plan is placed on educational or vocational programs, employment, program rules, life skills preparation, and other therapeutic requirements.  Services are geared toward enabling youth to become self-sufficient, productive, and responsible adults.

New Pathways employs a team of Life Skills Counselors supervised by the Coordinator of Residential Life.  Their responsibility is to provide routine supervision and to teach life skills.  The Life Skills Counselors cover each complex twenty-four hours per day, seven days per week.  Life Skills Counselors who work in the evenings and overnight are responsible for visiting each apartment at least once during each shift to check whether the client is in the apartment, to check for unauthorized guests, and to check on the condition of the apartment.

New Pathways employs a Director of Training and Vocational Services who assists clients with setting their educational, vocational and employment goals.  The Director also assesses vocational skills as needed.

Life-Skills & Job-Readiness Training Programs

        In an effort to prepare youth for the demands of adult living, New Pathways provides a comprehensive Life Skills Training Program.  The goal of this program is to provide the youth with training in the following life skills areas:

        There are also other specialized sessions that are developed to cater to individual needs.  New Pathways utilizes its community-based apartments to provide real-life practice of targeted life skills areas.  Trained Life Skills Counselors implement the training and establish mentoring relationships with the youth, thereby building trust and creating an open line of communication.

        New Pathways employs a Director of Training and Vocational Services who assists clients who are employed or seeking employment. The Director also assesses vocational skills and teaches job readiness skills.

        The Vocational Services component at New Pathways consists of six basic elements that assist youth with establishing and maintaining goals to achievement. 

        Each client meets with a Vocational Counselor to tailor an individual vocational service plan that identifies short-term and long-term vocational goals.  Each youth must be in pursuit of a vocational goal as part of the requirement of the program.