History of Brookwood Florida

Celebrating 97 Years Of Helping The Community

1927 Florence Crittenton Home:  Originally chartered as Florence Crittenton Home, the agency provided confidential care for more than 5,000 unwed mothers from all over the Eastern United States.

1976 A Young Women’s Residence, Inc.:   The name was changed and the goal of the agency shifted.  By 1976, requests for maternity care had declined, and the behavioral/emotional needs of adolescent girls surfaced as an unmet community need.  Serving the State of Florida, the agency’s emphasis became transitional living and development of self-sufficiency for girls between the ages of 13-18, who had been abused, abandoned, neglected, were pregnant, or involved in a family crisis.

1992 Brookwood, A Young Women’s Residence, Inc.:   Brookwood was added to the agency’s name and maternity care was deleted from the service array.  A new logo was adopted that was both descriptive – the residence is located in Brookwood Terrace, on a wooded property beside Booker Creek, and symbolic – the oak tree’s strong trunk signifies security and its branches denote sanctuary.

1994 Brookwood-East:   As over one-fourth of Brookwood’s residents were from South Florida, living in the St. Petersburg Brookwood residence made family reunification very difficult.  In 1994, a variety of factors came together, and the agency was able to open Brookwood East, a 14-bed facility in Broward County for girls between the ages of 11-18.  This satellite campus provided Brookwood with the means to better serve clients from southeastern Florida.

1997 Transitional Housing Project:   Brookwood was awarded funding for the Transitional Housing Project.  This HUD-funded program opened Brookwood’s doors to young women aged 18-21 who were displaced, homeless, and void of the skills necessary for successful independent living.

2001 Brookwood Florida:   To better reflect the agency’s statewide presence, “Florida” was added to the name.  The St. Petersburg campus reincorporated as Brookwood Florida-Central, Inc. and the East Coast campus incorporated as Brookwood Florida-East, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Brookwood Florida-Central.  The incorporation of the East Coast campus also allowed for the formation of a local Board of Directors to serve that site.

2008 Brookwood-South:   Our new six-bed Brookwood-South residence opened in North Fort Myers in the summer of 2008 to provide therapeutic residential services for girls from southwestern Florida.  It continued until 2011, when funding issues forced its sale.