Ozone House's continuum of care is nationally recognized as a model of innovative and effective care. Services are designed to offer youth the resources and skills they need to reach their full potential and contribute their best to the world. Here are some of our awards:

• Best of Washtenaw County, voted Best Educational/Youth Services Nonprofit  by Current Magazine - 2021
• Best of Washtenaw County, voted Most Effective Organization for LGTBQ Community by Current Magazine - 2021
• Pyramid Award from the Washtenaw Construction Association for Best Project Team for the Ozone House 1600 Building - 2020
• Best of Washtenaw County, voted Best Charity 2016 by Current Magazine - 2016
• Selected as Top 10 Finalist in the University of Michigan Stephen M.Ross School of Business' Positive Business Project, which recognizes agencies whose business practices make a positive difference in the world while driving great bottom-line outcomes. - 2015
• Awarded grant funding as lead agency for Communities Empowering Youth, a new collaborative effort among eight Ypsilanti-based agencies to evaluate and enhance capacity to provide positive youth development opportunities for high-risk youth in Ypsilanti - 2006
• Awarded Best Managed Nonprofit in Southeastern Michigan by Crain's Detroit Business - 2002
• Recognized by the National Resource Center for best practices in Transitional and Independent Living Services - 2002
• Named an exemplary agency for use of Best Practices by a Michigan State University Study - 2001
• Honored three times for Nonprofit Management Excellence by the NEW Center - in 1997 and 2000 for sound management practices, innovative use of resources, and community education and outreach.

1969: Ozone House began in the basement of Canterbury House by Ann Arbor residents concerned about the well-being of young people flooding the community as part of the counterculture movement.

Our Name: The lyrics from a popular local band, Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen “Lost in the Ozone Again”, inspired the name of the newly hatching agency, capturing its radical roots but also reflecting the organizers’ strong desire to appeal to the youth of the period and meet their unique needs.

Ozone House was initially run as a collective. Influenced by its Quaker and Rainbow People’s Party founders (Larry Clark, Don Koster and Shirley Nelson). Staffed by young, hip, volunteers, dressed casually to inspire trust and understanding - Ozone House provided a safe haven and free, confidential crisis counseling. It was among the first agencies in the nation to offer this type of youth-initiated service.

1971: The Ann Arbor Citizen’s Council, by unanimous vote, appropriated $6,000 to Ozone House, one-third of which was contingent on the agency finding matching contributions, which they did.

The fledgling agency moved many times in rapid succession—from to 621 E. William Street to 302 E. Liberty to the old Fisher Cadillac building located at 502 E. Washington—before settling into a more permanent home at 608 N. Main Street where it resided for the next twenty years.

In 1975—a year that the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare named Ann Arbor among the top 20 cities attracting runaway youth—Ozone House received its first federal grant allowing it to launch a 24-hour crisis line, offer family counseling services and eventually add foster parenting services to its growing list of interventions. Ozone House was among the first of the nation’s alternative agencies to receive these newly available federal funds under the Runaway Youth Act.

During the 1970's Ozone House began disseminating its knowledge through wide-ranging outreach and community education efforts, including conducting workshops in public schools, universities, and other public forums as well as launching a Dear Abby-like advice column in the Ann Arbor News called “We’re People Too.”

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1980s: Concerned about “throwaway” youth—those whom had been put out by their parents—and the lack of public services for 16-18 year-olds (youth who were mostly too old for foster care and too young for adult programs)—Ozone House established Miller House in the mid-1980s. Miller House, a transitional living program, provided free room and board to homeless young adults while helping them develop independent living skills.

1989: Ozone House celebrated its 20th year birthday with a benefit at the Blind Pig featuring C.J. Chenier and the Red Hot Louisiana Band; Peter Madcat Ruth and Catfish Keith and the debut performance of the Ozone House Band.

1993: Ozone House lost federal monies that had been used to support its transitional living program, Miller House. Ozone House was forced to close Miller House for a year, dislocating young adults who were relying on the program for housing and forcing the agency to lay off five staff members and reassign another three. Miller House was able to reopen the following year and remains serving young people to this day.

1995: Ozone House restructured with a more traditional and hierarchal administrative structure. Ozone House still relied on about 40 dedicated and well-trained volunteers to help meet the service demands of youth, but by the early 1990s it was also employing a highly qualified paid executive director as well as 14 full-time and 10 part-time paid staff.

1997: Ozone House staff solicited public suggestions for re-naming the agency in a way that might “better project its image”. In the end, the agency chose to retain its well-established name.

Also in 1997 Ozone House left its Main Street home and moved to its current location at 1705 Washtenaw Ave. The new building provided more space for the administrative staff as well as accommodating an emergency crisis shelter for younger youth (ages 10-17). The six-bed facility serves the Ann Arbor community to this today.

Two years later, in 1999, Ozone House opened a drop in center in Ypsilanti targeting under-served youth in the area.

2015 – Ozone House celebrated its 45th birthday with a backyard picnic bash.

2016 – Joint venture with WISD on The Education Project, expanding our service of keeping homeless school-aged youth in school. Ozone House also added counseling services for college students at both EMU and WCC through the MORE program.

While Ozone House has changed quite a bit over the years, the agency remains dedicated to meeting the needs of at-risk youth in the community.  Its diverse services include emergency shelter, transitional living, a crisis line, individual and family counseling, case management, job training, and youth leadership opportunities. Volunteers continue to play a vital role-- especially in staffing the crisis line. Ozone House founders can be proud that these services remain confidential, free, and rooted in the belief that if young people have a safe place with real support they can find their way to a better future.

2020 - Ozone House administration, Transitional Living Program and Emergency Shelter (SAfeStay) moves from 1705 Washtenaw Avenue, Ann Arbor to 1600 N. Huron River Drive, Ypsilanti on February 19, 2020. The new house is 19,000 square feet home with 16 bedrooms and 26 beds.