Project Safe Place

Safe Place is a program that provides young people a place to go when they need help fast. The mission of Safe Place is to provide a network of assistance for young people who are runaways, homeless, or in crisis. The program accomplishes its goals by nationally promoting one recognizable logo. The big yellow and black signs are placed prominently at participating businesses.

Safe Place began in 1983 in Louisville, Kentucky as an outreach effort of the YMCA Center for Youth Alternatives. The program now includes more than 100 cities throughout the United States. In 1986 the program received the Presidential Citation for Private Sector Initiatives from President Ronald Reagan.

CDS Family & Behavioral Health Services. Inc. runs Safe Place through Interface, its temporary residential shelter for adolescents.

CDS works on keeping sites up-to-date and obtaining new sites when necessary. In Alachua County approximately 80 businesses participate in the Safe Place program.

For more information about Safe Place or a list of updated Safe Place sites, call (352) 334-3834 or (352) 334-3800. We are currently updating our Safe Place site listing and trying to add more sites. Click below for a list of Safe Place sites in the Gainesville, Florida area.

Gainesville, Florida Safe Place Site Listing

Click here to become a Safe Place site