Nearly two years after opening its new downtown Rock Island facility, the YWCA Quad Cities is getting ready at its old building blocks away to open a state-licensed group home for youth who have been removed from their families due to abuse, neglect or other circumstances.
Alan’s House at 229 16th St. will be the only youth group home in the area, serving unhoused kids ages 10 to 17. Opening April 1, 2026, the home will serve up to 10 youth placed by Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) and four youth placed by Illinois Department of Human Services.
In the Quad Cities alone, more than 2,000 youth experience homelessness each year, according to YWCA. Until now, there has been no dedicated group home to serve them locally, and foster placements have become increasingly limited.
The only such youth home that was in the community (the former John Lewis Coffee Shop in downtown Davenport) closed in 2008 due to lack of funding.
Alan’s House aims to serve the 10-17-year age group because those kids are the hardest to place in foster care, YWCA QC chief program officer and Alan’s House administrator Nicole Sodawasser said Monday, March 9.
“Basically, you have two options to choose on that license. You can choose the older or the younger. And we wanted teenagers, the Illinois Department of Human Services population and the teenage population. That's got my heart,” she said. “Younger kids, while sometimes there's a struggle for placement and a need for specialized services and medical and things like that for youth, it’s usually not as hard to find a home for an 8-year-old as a 14-year-old.”
Since COVID-19 in 2020, the number of foster homes in the region has dried up, Sodawasser said.
“A lot of the folks that would open their homes and hearts to youth that were teenagers and maybe a little bit tougher than a toddler really started to worry about their health. They were usually older folks, retired, and they really started to worry about their health,” she said. “And the kids coming in and out really heightened that risk.
“We saw a lot of places surrender licenses. A lot of good foster homes just stopped doing it,” she noted. “And what happened at that point, the kids still need beds. They still need a place to stay. And what happened at that point is agencies had to look to other avenues and not always appropriate ones. Youth have stayed weeks and sometimes months beyond medical necessity at places like Robert Young Center, at different mental health facilities in the state. Youth have slept on the floors of social service agencies because there's not a bed.
“This isn't okay. We can do better than this,” Sodawasser said. “And that's been kind of the driving force.”
The closest group home for youth is in Rockford, Ill., about 90 miles away, and the closest in Iowa is over 165 miles away.
According to DCFS, there are 16,053 youth statewide in the system (including 399 in Rock Island, Henry, Mercer and Whiteside counties), and most of those are in foster care, group homes or staying with a relative.
At Alan’s House (which could accept kids from anywhere in Illinois), youth will be supervised 24/7 by licensed and trained staff providing wraparound services, such as counseling, case management, various skills groups, educational and vocational support.
Each child will be limited to a stay of 30 days. Some youth may remain in care for a few days to several months while awaiting placement in a foster home, with relatives, or in another residential program. They’re setting that time limit since it’s not designed to be a long-term permanent housing solution, Sodawasser said.
“Because unless a youth is in need of 24-hour intervention and supervision, they should be in a home. They should be in a home-like setting,” she said. “So we wanted this to be not a permanent placement for youth. We wanted it to be the stop between permanent placements, helping them graduate, if you will, into something that's going to help carry them long-term.”
While they’re at Alan’s House, their caseworkers will be working to secure a longer-term placement for the youth.
Concern for being overwhelmed
Sodawasser is worried the demand will outstrip her supply and they may be overwhelmed.
“We're gonna have to be very mindful starting out that we don't over tax our system, that we have things running like a well-oiled machine before we try to expand a license,” she said. “Because what we want is for kids to be safe, supported and healthy.”
“So the need is huge,” she noted. The 1954 building has 28,000 square feet across two floors, including a second-level gymnasium. The YWCA opened its $20-million new building (513 17th St., Rock Island) in spring 2024, with the pool opening that summer.
In addition to new furnishings and painting at the old building (across from Royal Neighbors of America), the $475,000 renovation work included installing new restrooms, an elevator, sprinkler system, new kitchen and new windows. There will be 21 employees devoted to the 24-hour staffing, including an on-site nurse.
The YWCA got funding from DCFS to create the new child welfare agency and bring the building up to code, including the sprinklers and the lift.
“And so we had to write other grants. Our CEO is an absolute rock star and was able to,” Sodawasser said of Julie Larson, YWCA president/CEO. “She can get money from a turnip, but she wrote enough grants to cover our bathroom upstairs and some of the other renovations that we've had to do.”
The Y was not previously a licensed child welfare agency, which is what you must be in Illinois to house youth, Sodawasser said. That took place this past October.
“We are a brand-new child welfare agency. It's just another facet to the 501c3,” she said of being nonprofit. “The Y's always provided the early learning academy and daycare. They've been DCFS licensed for years beyond. And that's fine, but that doesn't make you a child welfare agency. It's a different set of rules and circumstances.”
If an agency is providing foster care services, or foster to adoption services, they need to be a child welfare agency, Sodawasser said. They’re starting to serve just 14 kids because Alan’s House is new.
“As a brand-new provider, we can only start with the minimum, which is 10 for our group home license and four for our emergency use shelter license,” she said. “So we're starting where we have to and then hopefully we'll be able to increase. We will be in permit status for six months on each license and once we reach full licensure, we can ask for an increase.”
“All the youth that enter and will be in our care will be provided 24-hour supervision. They will have their own bed and bedding. We will provide them with all of their immediate needs as well as three meals, snacks, a comfortable living environment that's home like as much as it can be,” Sodawasser said. “And hopefully we're able to help youth get back on their feet. We are designed to be the most comfortable stop in between permanent placements for them.
“And we want to be able to get youth back on track with their education while they're here and really see what other kinds of things we're interested in and help them foster that,” she said.
Honoring Alan Egly’s legacy
The new facility is named for the late Alan Egly, who was the first and longest-serving executive director of the Doris and Victor Day Foundation (from 1986 until his 2014 retirement). Egly was a strong supporter of the YWCA, and passed away in 2016 at age 84.
The Y first opened ThePlace2B in 2010, as a teen drop-in center, as a result of John Lewis closing. It’s currently open (at 513 17th St.) weekdays from 5 to 8 p.m.
“There was a community services group that was founded right after or right at the announcement of John Lewis closing to discuss how to move forward and what we were going to do with unhoused youth,” Sodawasser said. “And out of that group, ThePlace2B was born. One of the things the group really struggled with, sustainability. How would a youth shelter or group home sustain?”
“And at that point, there wasn't a social service agency that was financially able or willing at that point to take on this idea and try and obtain funding for it,” she said. “I'm tenacious, if nothing else. And we just kept fighting and just kept having the discussion. And it got to the point where the new Y was opening. This building was going to be empty. It was a phone call between Julie and I. The rest, here we are.”
It was her idea to name the new program after Alan Egly, since he was the driving force behind the group that created ThePlace2B, and connected Sodawasser (who was working for Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Peoria) and Larson.
He was a steadfast supporter of YWCA Quad Cities and played a key role in helping establish ThePlace2B, originally envisioned as a 24/7 safe haven for young people seeking shelter and connection. While resources at the time limited that dream to a drop-in center, Egly never stopped believing in the need for a dedicated youth home, according to the Y.
Alan’s House now fulfills that long-held vision — standing as both a vital community resource and a lasting tribute to a leader whose philanthropic legacy continues to shape brighter futures for QC youth, the YWCA said.
The Day Foundation, Rock Island Rotary Foundation, and Scott County Regional Authority were among key supporters for Alan’s House.
Preserving space with new purpose
“This building itself holds a rich history here in downtown Rock Island. We are deeply grateful that we were able to preserve this space and give it a new purpose — one that reflects the heart of this community,” Julie Larson said on the YWCA website.
On Feb. 19, YWCA Quad Cities hosted an open house and ribbon cutting to celebrate the opening of Alan’s House, with staff, elected officials, community partners, and supporters gathered to mark the milestone.
“I am so excited to finally be standing here, sharing this promise with all of you, because Alan’s House is more than just a building. It is a promise,” Larson said last month. “A promise that young people in our community will not be forgotten. A promise that when a young person experiences housing instability, there is a safe, supportive place for them to land.”
“Unhoused youth are significantly more likely to become victims of sex trafficking. They are far more likely to experience substance use disorders. They are at much higher risk for exploitation, violence, untreated mental health challenges, and involvement with the juvenile justice system,” said Nicole Sodawasser.
With nearly 29 years of experience as a social worker, she has seen these realities firsthand.
“I have worked with youth who were couch surfing, sleeping in cars, staying in abandoned buildings, or trading their safety for a roof over their heads,” she said. “I have met young people who weren’t thinking about college applications or career plans — they were thinking about where they would sleep that night.”
Alan’s House exists to change that reality — providing stability, structure, and compassionate adults who believe in each young person’s potential.
Housing has long been part of YWCA QC’s mission. In 1918, the organization opened a dormitory that became home to thousands of young women seeking education, careers, and independence.
“That legacy of safe shelter and opportunity is woven into who we are,” Larson said.
Future possibilities
Expanding future capacity for Alan’s House depends on how they handle the initial number of youth.
“28,000 square feet has never been so big and so small at the same time,” Sodawasser said. “Because as I walked through the building doing tours for open house, I was like, oh, my God, I'm out of space. And a year ago, I was like, oh, I got space for that. I've got space for that.”
In the old building, they will keep using the gym for a gym, but a planned Phase 2 of renovations is considering turning it into something else multi-purpose, Sodawasser said. “We do have a gym up the street that we can take kids to. But we've also talked about leaving it alone and trying to figure out how many metric tons of sand and gravel it'll take to fill that pool and turn that room into something else, too,” she said. “That's a grant for another day -- we want to get open first.”
The next phase will focus on exterior improvements that enhance the building’s appearance, accessibility, and sense of arrival — ensuring that from the moment young people approach the home, they are met with an environment that conveys care, stability, and hope.
Enhancements will also be made to sleeping rooms for DHS-placed youth, male and female residents, and the youth isolation room to ensure each space is calming, dignified, and trauma-informed. The main hallway will receive an uplifting redesign featuring inspirational messages and imagery that greet youth each day with encouragement and affirmation.
For 24/7 help, you can call 888-401-2311 or visit ywcaqc.org.
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