By Sheri Hager , Communications Director

Paul Haffner, president and chief executive officer of Lighthouse Youth & Family Services, will retire on Dec. 31, 2025. Haffner has served in his role since 2016. 

Under his leadership, Lighthouse Youth & Family Services (Lighthouse) created and implemented programs aimed at ending youth homelessness, opened the Lighthouse Clinic as part of an effort to advance health equity, and increased capacity for youth in its shelters and residential treatment programs through renovation and construction.

Plus, every Lighthouse location underwent improvements and upgrades, including trauma-informed design to create a sense of safety, community, respect and dignity. 

“Paul is a champion of building communities where every young person has the opportunity to thrive,” said Debbie White Richardson, chair of the Lighthouse board of trustees. “He is a strong leader who remains focused on doing what’s best for those Lighthouse serves, no matter the challenge — including successfully leading the organization through the COVID-19 pandemic, always putting safety first and ensuring Lighthouse’s doors stayed open.” 

Also, under Haffner’s leadership, Lighthouse Youth & Family Services has become a beacon of diversity, equity and inclusion, principles embedded in its practices and services. The effort includes continual learning, courageous conversations, closing gender-and race-based wage gaps, and evaluating policies and hiring practices. 

“My time at Lighthouse has been the most rewarding of my career,” said Haffner. “It has been a privilege to lead the organization and an honor to work with a team that is passionate about our mission and delivers excellence every day.” 

The search for Haffner’s successor begins immediately. 

Haffner joined Lighthouse after a 22-year career as a corporate lawyer and business manager with prominent Cincinnati law firms and the Great American Insurance Group. A member of Leadership Cincinnati Class 39, he previously served as board chair of the Cincinnati Nature Center and on the boards of directors of Hamilton County Developmental Disabilities Services, Ronald McDonald House of Greater Cincinnati and the Insurance Industry Charitable Foundation, Ohio Chapter. He currently serves as board secretary for the Ohio Children’s Alliance. 

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The desire of African American volunteers with the Cincinnati Baptist Women’s Fellowship to fill a gap in services for young people led to the birth of Lighthouse Youth & Family Services.

Over the past 55 years, Lighthouse grew from providing one service to about a dozen youth daily to a multi-service beacon of hope serving children, youth and families in Cincinnati and across Ohio. Approximately 450 young people sleep safely under a Lighthouse roof each night.

It all began in 1969 when the group from the fellowship, led by Edythe Hyde and Ethel Lankford, discovered the need for aftercare for girls returning to the community from youth detention centers.

Many of the girls had no real home. Determined to make a difference for them, the women founded New Life for Girls, known today as Lighthouse Youth & Family Services. The agency opened the first halfway house for girls in Ohio in 1971.

Today, with headquarters at 401 E. McMillan St. in Walnut Hills, Lighthouse provides a wide range of services to meet the needs of youth ages 0-24 and their families. The organization has locations in Cincinnati, Dayton, Chillicothe and Bainbridge. 

Lighthouse offers outpatient mental and behavioral health services, psychiatric care, two emergency shelters, youth housing and street outreach. The agency also provides community juvenile justice services, residential treatment, and foster care and adoption. The integrated system of care means young people can connect with what they need in one place. 

“At Lighthouse, the light is always on, and the door is always open for any young person looking for help,” according to officials there. 

From the beginning, Lighthouse has pioneered the development of services for youth, some of whom have become national models of innovation and efficacy. A pioneer in the effort to end youth homelessness and the only local agency focused on helping homeless youth, Lighthouse is the lead agency in the KEYS to a Future without Youth Homelessness initiative in Hamilton County.

“Every day in Cincinnati as many as 87 young people are experiencing homelessness,” said Paul Haffner, president and CEO, Lighthouse Youth & Family Services. “Right now, we are collaborating with community partners on a new prevention plan called Gaining Resources, Opportunity and Wellness (GROW). This initiative creates a safety net of support and resources for young people at risk of homelessness to catch them before the risk becomes reality.”

Whatever the challenge, Lighthouse is ready to support each young person with personalized care and unconditional support on their unique journey.

Lighthouse:

• Maintains Cincinnati’s only 24-hour emergency shelter for teens. 

• Provides intensive home-based therapy.

• Offers behavioral health and mental health services in homes, the community, schools and in its offices.

• Provides residential treatment for youth ages 11-18.

• Offers housing and case management for homeless young adults, ages 18-24.

• Operates a Resource Center for homeless youth. The center is open every day and offers a meal, access to computers and laundry facilities. Youth can also get help connecting with resources they need.

• Has a street outreach team that searches Cincinnati for youth who are homeless. The team offers survival supplies and connection to services.

• Offers assessments in the office or community to connect youth and families with needed services.

• Provides foster care and adoption services. 

• Operates the Lighthouse Clinic, helping young people achieve optimal health through expert, convenient and holistic care, including psychiatric services. 

Lighthouse serves 3,500 young people and families in crisis each year. All its services are trauma-informed, strength-based, and fully accredited and licensed.

The Lighthouse team is made up of 350 full-and part-time employees, all passionate about their mission: to empower young people and families to succeed through a continuum of care that promotes healing and growth. Their vision is to be the leader in creating communities where every young person has the opportunity to thrive.

The Lighthouse team is advancing racial equity through its policies and practices, with the understanding that systemic racism significantly impacts its team and the young people and families they serve.

“The Lighthouse mission and vision reflect our fundamental belief that delivering inclusive services promotes justice and equity for underrepresented youth and families,” according to officials there. “Our commitment is to build and sustain a culture where everyone feels valued and heard. We strive to continuously challenge ourselves and the community to advocate for and create system change.”

At its heart are the agency’s seven core values.

• Integrity: We do what we say we will do.
• Diversity: We value differences in perspective and experience.
• Excellence: We challenge ourselves to do our best. 
• Adaptability: We meet the changing needs of our community.
• Family: We support families for healthy children and a strong community.
• Optimism: Everyone has the capacity to grow and to contribute to the community. 
• Respect: We honor and uplift the voices and experiences of others. 

Lighthouse services based at 401 East McMillan Street, Cincinnati, include foster care and adoption, Hamilton County Community Juvenile Justice Services (prevention, diversion, reentry) and outpatient services. The Lighthouse Clinic and the Integrated Access Center are located at 2433 Iowa Avenue, Cincinnati.

  Lighthouse offers residential treatment services at three locations.

• Lighthouse Youth Center at Paint Creek, 1071 Tong Hollow Road, Bainbridge, Ohio. 
• New Beginnings, 47 E. Hollister, Cincinnati.
• Youth Development Center, 3330 Jefferson Avenue, Cincinnati.

Community Juvenile Justice Services are available in two additional locations.

• Montgomery County Community Juvenile Justice Services, 2640 St. Charles Avenue, Dayton.
• Ross County Community Juvenile Justice Services, 14 S. Paint Street, Chillicothe.

Lighthouse’s homeless youth services include: 

• Lighthouse Sheakley Center for Youth, 2314 Iowa Avenue, Cincinnati – shelter for 18-24-year-olds and houses a resource center for homeless youth.
• Mecum House, 2522 Highland Avenue, Cincinnati. (shelter for youth ages 10-17).
• Youth Housing Opportunities, 2314 Iowa Avenue, Cincinnati –housing program for young adults meeting eligibility requirements.

The organization’s name may have changed over the past 55 years as its services evolved and expanded, but its commitment to adapting to meet the needs of its communities and help youth succeed never has. 

1969: Incorporated as New Life for Girls.

1989: Name changed to New Life Youth Services. 

1994: Name changed to Lighthouse Youth Services. 

2017: Name changed to Lighthouse Youth & Family Services.

Lighthouse Youth & Family Services is governed by a board of trustees whose leadership guides and sustains the organization.

Clarise White, one of the volunteers with the Baptist Women’s Fellowship who paved the way for the creation of Lighthouse, is the mother of Debbie White Richardson, present board of trustees chair. 

“I am proud to be continuing my mother’s legacy and supporting Lighthouse, an organization that does so much for so many. At Lighthouse, our commitment to meeting the needs of our communities never ends,” said Richardson.

Doug Bierer is vice chair; Allison Kahn, secretary; and Bobby Cave, treasurer. Trustees are Chris Bolling, Marvin Butts, Steve Campbell, Elena Comeaux, Nicole Dowdell, Ronicole Hyman, Kick Lee, Santoshi Mahendra, Byron McCauley, Kareem Moncree-Moffett, Barry Morris, Adam Morton, Lisa O’Brien, Stephen Peterson, Bob Rich, Gregory Rouan, Amber Simpson, Tamie Sullivan, Amy Susskind and Bob Zepf.

Lighthouse reported a 2023 operating budget of nearly $26 million. It is a Hamilton County Mental Health and Recovery Services board agency and a United Way agency partner. The agency is funded in part by the City of Cincinnati, and significant funding is provided by the Hamilton County Board of County Commissioners on behalf of the Hamilton County Department of Job and Family Services. 

Lighthouse meets the Wise Giving Alliance Standards of the Better Business Bureau. 

Lighthouse Youth & Family Services

401 E. McMillan Street

Cincinnati, OH  45040

Website: www.lys.org  Phone 513-221-3350 

The Lighthouse Youth Crisis Line is open 24 hours/365 days by dialing 513-961-4080. 

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