The Road We've Traveled
- Project Kompass incorporates (501C3) – January 2020
- Acquires 1st home in North Chelmsford, MA – April 2020
- Welcomes family of 4 during renovations, stays 11 months, saves $30K – July 2020
- North Chelmsford opens and welcomes first young adult – November 2020
- North Chelmsford at capacity – April 2021
- Acquires 2nd home and begins renovations, Lowell, MA – May 2021
- Welcomes Mom & Baby into Lowell home – January 2022
- Lowell at capacity – June 2022
- Collaborates with Hidden Pond Derry, LLC to provide Animal Assisted Therapy – June 2022
- Partnered with Small House, Inc to incorporate Life Skill Workshop(s) – September 2022
- Expands Life Skill Workshop to area youth and young adults – April 2023
Our History
After spending long careers in corporate positions and small businesses, the founders of Project Kompass began looking towards the next chapter and ways to turn their energies and skills towards helping others and paying it forward.
We only had two requirements:
- Our mission must serve the local community
- Only offer support where other local agencies and government programs were not fulfilling a basic need
After months of research and meetings with local nonprofit agencies and government officials, we discovered that there was a severe shortage of suitable housing options for homeless young adults. Overnight shelters and traditional group homes did not provide an adequate transition period and tended to house individuals with addiction and/or serious mental health issues. As a result, the young adults we serve tended to couch-surf, sleep in their cars or reside in other unsafe situations.
We decided to change the model and find a safe and nurturing space where residents could stay for a longer period of time while we created a personalized development plan to help them gain the necessary skills, training and financial resources to move towards permanent housing independence.
We were very fortunate to find the perfect home with the scale, location and amenities to begin our first residential program … then Covid hit!
Our Core Values
At Project Kompass, we truly value the uniqueness of each and every resident. Our programming is not one size fits all. We work closely with all of our residents and along with our staff and case managers strive to develop an individualized plan that bridges housing insecurity to sustainable independence.
Together with our Board of Directors, donors and incredibly dedicated volunteers, we intend to maintain our flexibility, personalized care and investment in new programming that benefits the youth in our community.
