OWL360: Reconnecting the Youth of Jefferson County

“Self-esteem starts slowly, built when people show up for themselves. You walk your way into it. You don’t think your way into it. You make choices that are ‘esteemable,’right?” Tobi McEnerey, Housing Case Care Manager, OWL360

In May of 2019, Emily Abell moved from Virginia to Washington State. She was 22 years old, had a beloved pit bull by the name of Queenie, and was married at the time. Here then-husband had been living and working in Port Angeles. Before heading west, she applied for jobs andante thinking there would only be one “Port” in the area, lined up an interview at Fort Worden in Port Townsend. Within a few weeks of arriving she realized neither the commute nor the marriage was going to work.

For several weeks, Emily stayed in her car and couch-surfed while navigating a divorce and searching for stable housing. After a few months she entered a relationship with a colleague and moved into a fifth-wheel in Quilcene without running water or a toilet. Over time, she realized he was struggling with substance use, adding further instability to an already challenging situation. Then came the pandemic, severing the few social ties she had and made it nearly impossible to earn income or secure housing.

Now, 7 years after arriving In Jefferson County, Emily is preparing to graduate this June with a BA from Western Washington University and will begin a Master’s program at the University of Washington in the fall. Today, she works at the Office of Homeless Youth, bringing both her professional and lived experience into efforts to prevent youth and young adult homelessness.

Emily is far from alone in her lived experience. Jefferson County has the second-highest rate of disconnected youth in Washington, meaning, among other things, they came from broken homes, didn’t graduate from high school, didn’t attend any vocational schools, didn’t engage in the military, hadn’t found steady work, or worse, they were unhoused, couch surfing, or on the streets. At the same time, Kelli Parcher, Executive Director of OWL360, believes ”The majority of young people in our program are very much invested in remaining in this community. They love it and want to grow here and build a life here in Jefferson County.”

All which begs the question: how does one take this love of place and use it’s energy to change the destructive personal experiences of the past? With over 25 years of experience working in Jefferson County Juvenile Services, running alternative detention and cognitive behavioral programs, Kelli Parcher knew what she would do. She had been thinking for a long time about creating an new organization “not driven by adults, but driven by youth.” A place where kids ages 13-25 could reestablish a level of belief and trust in systems and adults that had failed them in the past. And she knew the first thing to solve for was to help the most in need: unhoused youth, ages 18-23.

In a moment of kismet, and more than somewhat ironically, in the early days of COVID, Kelli was given her chance. Working with OlyCAP, she was able to purchase the Pfeiffer House, a 1888 Victorian House in Port Townsend with six apartments, and put it to use as temporary housing for unsheltered young adults. Shortly thereafter, OWL360 was established, Pfeiffer opened its doors, and within a week, all six units in the building were filled. Since then, OWL360 has added three other housing units, and in 2025 alone, they had 33 residents (and 3 small children), totaling 9,147 bed nights for young people in Jefferson County.

The 28 residents are spread out over four properties sign one-year leases and, if need be, have the can renew them for two more years. They are expected to put in a minimum of 20 hours a week working or in educational in programs vetted by OWL360. These are valid contracts, most of the time they are the first ever formal financial commitment these young folks have made. And it makes the world of difference. Once they graduate from the transitional housing program, 82% of them sign leases wherever they end up choosing to live – a major step forward in reconnection with society.

For the young people who come to OWL360 and directly to Tobi in her position of Housing Program Lead and Case Care Manager, are disengaged and skeptical of a system that has already failed them. Rebuilding trust, getting them to commit to the program, is the heart and soul of Tobi’s work. When the first arrive ,she asks them, what are your hopes and dreams? And then she listens.

And when she listens, Tobi says, “We start on a journey. I sit there and capture it. And then I repeat it back to them, and then we break it down into what we call SMART steps.” Small, measurable, actionable, reasonable, and timely. What this means varies with each individual. It can be driving them to the DMV to get a driver’s license. Talking with a credit union about how to start building a credit history. It can be reminding them to take the trash out. Tobi admits to being, as she says, “a professional Auntie.” She spends a lot of time building trusting relationships. “I am committed to walk with them on their path to self. I would never ask something out of someone that I didn’t think they could do.”

In addition to its housing component, OWL360 has an amazing number of programs designed to reintegrate disconnected youth into a productive partnership with their community.

• Earn to Learn – For those 17-24 year olds who want to begin a career pathway towards a living wage and meaningful employment. Classes meets weekly and requires some independent coursework. Upon completion of the 45 hour program young people earn a $500 stipend.
• Level Up – A paid internship program that supports the Earn to Learn graduates to embark on their career pathways by supporting paid internships and pathways into vocational training programs.
• Flight Crew – an opportunity for young people to build skills, make connections, grow their leadership, and bring their ideas and interests to life in a creative, supportive, and low-pressure environment.
• Clemente Course in Humanities – A transformative college-level educational experience in a supportive community. Costs are covered for tuition, books, transportation, and childcare.

THE CHALLENGE

The challenge, however, remains how to connect with youth who feel all too often unseen and remain suspicious of established norms. Bridging that gap, being able to really see them, and in turn and be seen, is made a bit easier by the fact that over two-thirds of OWL360 staff are under the age of 30. Most of them have had similar experiences to the youth they serve. They been in transitional housing, they’ve had struggles with trauma and conflict. They are truly peer allies.

Leading the charge of these peers is Dereck Firenze, OWL360’s Resource Navigator who is a poet, former reporter for The Port Townsend Leader and, before OWL360, a community inclusion specialist at Cascade Community Connections. Much of Derek’s job is to be in situ with the kids, whether it be hanging out with students during lunch at The Ocean School, visiting the Jefferson County Teen Center or being a presenter at the Jefferson County Youth Connectivity Summit. The goal is to serve as a portal of connections throughout Jefferson County either within OWL360 or organizations like Olympic Connect or the new Empowered Teens Coalition Center serving Quilcene and Brinnon.

Derek covers a lot of territory, but his work is all about forming partnerships. He knows he doesn’t have all the answers. Progress and change in the community happens best through collaboration. When it comes to kids and young adults, Derek believes good things happen from trying not to do too much too soon. He says, “My biggest challenge is to show them what is available, create a space that is safe, and then let them walk the steps.”

Early on in my first conversation with Kelli she also referenced the notion of “walking with the kids.” She added some depth to the literal and metaphorical journeys of ‘one step at a time’ by those who come to OWL360’s with her belief that they are here to meet the kids where they are and walk with them, sometimes behind, most times aside, and now and then, in front, when they ask, where might be a good direction to go.

Notes from Kelli: We are always looking for community partners to support affordable housing for young adults in the OWL360 program.

Come and have coffee with me at The Nest! Are you in need or know a young person that could use some extra support or is struggling to find there way? Reach out to us: (360) 344-2374 hoot@owl360.org

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Author’s Note: You’ll Never Walk Alone, by Gerry & The Pacemakers, 1963

When you walk through a storm

Hold your head up high

And don’t be afraid of the dark

At the end of a storm

There’s a golden sky

And the sweet silver song of a lark

Walk on through the wind

Walk on through the rain

For your dreams be tossed and blown

Walk on, walk on

With hope in your heart

And you’ll never walk alone

You’ll never walk alone

Walk on, walk on

With hope in your heart

And you’ll never walk alone

You’ll never walk alone