A Step Up Housing Story

Posted on May 1, 2026

By the time a local young man was 21, he’d already outrun a few bad endings.

He grew up in Brunswick, navigating the years between 16 and 18 the way a lot of kids do — imperfectly. Alcohol became a crutch too early. Mental health struggles landed him in the hospital for treatment. The tension at home reached a breaking point, and when he aged into adulthood, he aged out of that space, too. He found an apartment with friends in Brunswick. A new start.

Except it wasn’t, quite. A rotating cast of roommates, unspoken expectations, too many personalities crammed into too little space. More people moved in. Then more dogs. The tensions quietly rebuilt themselves. This young man found a foothold at a coworker’s apartment — grateful, but aware it wasn’t a solution. He was sleeping on a floor.

He just didn’t know what came next.

His boss noticed.

Moore Painting had employed him for over a year at that point, and his employer had watched him show up, work hard, and quietly carry something heavy. When the full picture came into view — young employee, no stable housing, sleeping on a floor — his boss didn’t look the other way. He called MYC.

One week later, this young man moved into MYC’s Step Up Transitional Housing for 18-24 year olds.

That was seven months ago.

What’s happened since is harder to summarize than it sounds. Not because it’s dramatic — it isn’t, really — but because the changes are the quiet kind. The kind that look ordinary from the outside until you understand what they actually represent.

“I’m learning how to budget and save money,” he shared. “That’s because my boss is tough on me and pushes me to be more responsible. Also, Step Up Housing requires me to pay a portion of my salary in rent and then saves part of that for me.”

When he was ready for a car, the network moved. His boss connected him to Brunswick Darling Ford (also a valued part of MYC’s network). MYC’s Workforce Development Coordinator walked him through the loan process at Midcoast Federal Credit Union. He bought his first car. It’s red.

At work, something has shifted, too. “My boss gives me independence and I work on jobs all on my own. I don’t need someone watching over me to tell me how to do the work. Now my boss does the final quality check on my work, and he’s happy with it.”

He’s stopped spending his free time the way he used to. The drinking that once defined his evenings is no longer the draw. The car opens up something different — hiking trips he can plan himself, fishing spots he can find on his own terms. He volunteers at MYC events, shows up at the Teen Center for dinner and a listening ear sometimes, and — even when it’s hard — mentors newer Step Up residents who are earlier in the same uncertain walk he’s been taking.

Here’s what we want you to understand.

This young man didn’t need someone to rescue him. He needed people, in the right places, paying attention. His employer, who made one phone call. A community navigator who helped him find his footing. A workforce development coordinator who walked him through a loan application. An executive director, a senior program director, a development director — people who built and sustain a program that was ready when he arrived, and who also ask, “How are you doing today?”

And businesses — Moore Painting, Brunswick Darling Ford, Midcoast Federal Credit Union, Pole Star Maritime (a workforce development Corporate Partner) — who wrote checks, showed up as physical partners in a young person’s life, or did both.

This is what MYC is built to do. Not to be the whole answer, but to be the hub — the place where the threads come together, where the right connection gets made at the right moment, and where a 21-year-old sleeping on a floor becomes someone who just bought a red car and can hike to wherever he wants to go.

There are more young people like him. They’re one week away. They need MYC’s web to hold.

Here’s how you can help:

Every gift matters. Every action helps. Every step forward ensures that MYC remains what it has always been: Steady. Strong. Here. Because of You.

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