Fargo’s Youth Home Remodeled for the First Time Since 1980’s

Officials say it needed some TLC

FARGO, N.D. — A house may be what someone lives in but what truly makes it a home is the way that it makes them feel.

To make at–risk–youth feel more at home, the Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch remodeled their Fargo Youth Home.

Three years ago, the DBGR realized they were helping at–risk teenagers find hope but the place they were doing it in needed some TLC.

“It was always clean and safe and full of hope and healing but when you looked around, it wasn’t necessarily pretty,” said Joy Ryan, DBGR’s president/CEO.

The last time contractors even touched the Fargo Youth Home was back in the 80’s when it was first built.

Now it’s finally receiving some of that tender loving care it’s been waiting for thanks to the F–M Home Builders Association.

“When Home Builders Association came over and realized how amazing our kids are, they just really committed to making it a home that they could be proud of. A lot of our kids say this is the best places they’ve ever lived,” Ryan said.

The association spent seven weeks remodeling part of the home transforming it into a true place for the kids.

“They were very appreciative of what we were doing. They’re biggest interest was when they were going to get their stuff back,” said Trevor Odden with the F-M Home Builders Association.

The home is where hundreds of teenagers from the ages of 14–18 stayed before the remodel and where hundreds more will stay in the years to come.

All of the teens who live there are struggling with psychiatric, behavioral or trauma issues.

“They’re working through treatment and they’ve reached a place that they’re safe and happy living in a community setting and they’re pretty remarkable. They’re smart kids, they’re good kids,” Ryan said.

But Ryan says at–risk–youth can’t become the best version of themselves if more people don’t ask the right question when they first meets these kids.

“Instead of saying ‘what’s wrong with this child’ to take a step back and say ‘what happened to this child’. If we can understand why these behaviors were developed, then we can take that kid all the way to what they’re meant to be,” Ryan said.

More than 40 contractors from around the metro remodeled the home.

The F–M Home Builders Association donated $60,000 of the $80,000 it took to complete the remodel.