Residents of Project Return
on a recent excursion.
SPOTLIGHT ON
Project Return
Project Return provides a safe, structured, therapeutic family-like environment in Westport for up to seven teenage girls in crisis who cannot live with their families. The girls attend school and therapy and have round-the-clock supervision. Most of the girls are from Fairfield County; their living costs are mostly subsidized by the state.
But a typical Westport teenager’s expenses go beyond room and board. With Charter Oak’s grant, Project Return can provide the peripherals that have come to be expected here: pulling wisdom teeth, clothing for special occasions, yearbooks, tutoring, trips and college visiting.
“Especially in Westport, it is so easy for our girls to feel stigmatized and different,” said Mimi Haley, the program development director at Project Return. “Charter Oak’s significant contribution really makes a huge difference in helping them feel like normal teenagers.”
