LISA Inc. Programs

Beacon House | Plainville Group Home
SAIL | Community Life Skills | A Stitch In Time | Connections Mentor Program

L.I.S.A., Inc. operates two group homes, Beacon House (est. 1976), an eight bed facility in Wolcott and Plainville Group Home a ten bed home in Plainville (est. 1970). Each home is licensed by the Department of Children and Families (DCF) to provide group home care to abused and neglected adolescent girls between the ages of 12 and 21. Beacon House originally was located in Waterbury on Pine Street, but relocated in 1993 to a newly constructed facility located in a residential neighborhood in Wolcott.

L.I.S.A., Inc. also owns seven condominiums in Bristol, CT. These condominiums house residents who participate in our transitional living program, Supervised Apartments in Independent Living (S.A.I.L.). The residents of our group homes and other foster youth are provided with a program that affords them the ability to become established and accomplish that crucial transition to independent living. This is accomplished by providing the youth a hands on environment for them to learn and practice the independent living skills they will require when leaving the foster care system.

Our agency also operates The Community Life Skills Program in Waterbury (est. 1989). This is a life skills program for adolescents ages 16 – 18, male and female, committed to the state, who life in independent living programs, foster homes or on their own. The purpose of this program is to provide training in the life skills necessary for young adults to live and function independently.

Seeing a need for vocational training the agency developed an onsite vocational training program that provides young women with the opportunities to learn valuable employment skills in a hands-on format. The program is designed around knitting and selling knitting goods online. Participants learn to knit and produce knitted items for sale, market their products, package and ship customer orders, and provide customer service. The curriculum used in this program covers job skills and career planning, with an emphasis toward completing high school and going on to higher education. The topics covered are informative and essential for these young women so that they are equipped to enter the competitive job market.

The Connections Mentor Program is the first in the state of Connecticut within a P.A.S.S. group home to serve as a volunteer based mentoring program for our girls. The goals of the Connections Mentor Program are to establish long-term relationships with our girls and members of the broader community. The mentors will serve as role models, friends, and surrogate families for girls lacking these resources. We want the experience of a mentor relationship to stimulate stable connections, foster socialization, and be memorable. Because our girls need to be exposed to new experiences we are encouraging them to try new things with their mentors. These activities may include going to a sit-down restaurant, accompany them to a theatrical production, or attending a concert for the first time. All of these experiences help to build character, self confidence, and most notably allow our girls to have fun being girls.