In Cuyahoga County, teenage girls are experiencing trauma at crisis levels. Exposure to violence, sexual exploitation, chronic poverty, and systemic neglect has created a public health emergency - one that continues to go unaddressed by traditional systems of care.
Rates of child abuse in Cleveland are alarmingly high, with 13.9 per 1,000 children impacted—nearly twice the county’s average. Meanwhile, over 51% of children live below the poverty line, increasing their vulnerability to exploitation and untreated mental health conditions. Survivors of sexual trauma and trafficking, many under age 18, are often discharged from crisis facilities with no structured follow-up, no therapeutic continuity, and no long-term plan.
What’s missing is not intervention - it’s reintegration.
The current model focuses on emergency stabilization, but lacks step-down programming, sustained healing environments, and a bridge to self agency.
The Prep Place was created to be that bridge.
We are not a shelter or group home. We are a launchpad that heals youth and builds futures…futures reimagined.
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