About Youth & Family
Outreach

Welcome to Youth and Family Outreach, offering services to Greater Portland families with children 6 weeks to five years of age. We are a 501 (c) (3) non-profit organization located in the Bayside neighborhood of Portland, ME, accredited by the National Association for the Education of Young Children, a level 4 on Maine's Quality Rating System, and state licensed.

Youth and Family Outreach has a rich, unwavering history of meeting the needs of Portland's children and families. Since its origins in 1844 as a community outreach mission of the Portland Ministries at Large, the agency has focused its efforts on a serving the community with compassion. YFO currently operates an early care and education facility which was established in 1986.

Starting in 1853 with the establishment of Maine's first adult education school, to the Pride Training School for intellectually disabled children, to a credit union for the local poor, to the Beacon Teen Center for homeless youth, the agency has risen to meet critical community needs of the time. All of this was made possible through the generosity of Mary Deering Preble who donated the land to the ministry, which is Youth and Family Outreach today. The only condition was that this ministry, would always welcome and serve the needs of the local poor. The mission continues on this site to this very day.

In 1979 the Portland Ministries at Large filed for nonprofit status and was granted independent status from the First Parish to conduct its outreach mission. In 1984 the agency began focusing its attention on social services for inner city youth. In 1994 the Portland Ministries at Large filed to carry out its business as Youth and Family Outreach.