Last modified on March 26, 2025, at 11:18

Renaissance Home for Youth

The Renaissance Home for Youth is a criminal rehabilitation center and shelter care facility located near Alexandria, Louisiana, USA at 6177 Bayou Rapides Road in western Rapides Parish which was co-founded in 1972 by Guy E. Humphries, Jr., a Ninth Judicial District Court judge, Dr. Glenn Bryant,[1] then the pastor of the large downtown Emmanuel Baptist Church, and George M. Foote, the Alexandria municipal judge at the time. The center is a non-profit organization financed from mostly originally donated assets.[2] The facility was established to meet the "need apparent for an alternative to adult jail or reform school warehousing for kids (boys and girls) who deserved a second chance."

Robert J. "Bob" Tillie (born 1944) of Pineville, the Renaissance founding executive director from 1972 to 2006, told The Alexandria Town Talk]] on the occasion of Judge Humphries' death that the jurist in particular had been highly "supportive of a place for juveniles to have a second chance. He was very caring of kids in need."[2]

Land for the home came from an abandoned vegetable farm owned by Central Louisiana State Hospital of Pineville. Civic clubs organized to renovate a former "potato shed" to house the first twelve boys in the program. The facility opened in March 1973. A grant was approved by the Red River Delta planning district and the Louisiana Commission on Law Enforcement. In 1974, the Renaissance Home was licensed by the State of Louisiana, and a two-mil ad valorem tax was approved by voters to support the home, a showcase experiment under a law known as the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act of 1974.[3]

In 1976 a renovated secure detention center was authorized under a capital improvement plan. The first female facility was added in 1977. A new center and administrative complex opened in 1985. In 1986, a shelter-care facility called the Hathorn Center opened. It is named for Edgar Hathorn,[1] the owner of Hathorn Transfer and Storage of Alexandria and a former member of the Rapides Parish Police Jury. A one-room school opened in 2000, followed by a covered basketball court in 2004, and the Renaissance Education Center in 2008.[3]

Ad valorem funding was renewed by voters in 1984, 1994, 2004, and 2014.[4] State grants also assist in funding the facility. The center was first accredited by the American Correctional Association in 1996 and since re-accredited in 1999, 2002, 2005, and 2008. Since 1973, there have been more than twelve thousand admissions to the home.[3]

Dr. Glenn Bryant was the first chairman of the Renaissance board, with service from 1973 to 1976. He was succeeded by Sarah Frances Anders, a sociologist at Louisiana College in Pineville, who served in 1977. Edgar Hathorn was chairman from 1984 to 1987. Mayor David C. Butler of Woodworth in south Rapides Parish served as chairman from 1999 to 2000. Alexandria businessman Edwin Joseph Caplan(born 1932) presided during 2004, and Robbie Laborde was appointed in 2009.[3]

In 2025, Governor Jeff Landry announced that the state has earmarked $39 million for an expansion at the Renaissance Home for Youth to allow for more juveniles awaiting trial to be housed there. Though most will be from Rapides Parish, youth may be accommodated from seven other area parishes. The home is one of the first regional juvenile detention centers that Landry envisions for the state, and Rapides Parish District Attorney Phillip Terrell said the expansion will seek to rehabilitate those juveniles who can be saved."[5]

The Renaissance address is P.O. Box 7997, Alexandria, LA 71306.
  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Social Security Death Index. ssdi.rootsweb.ancestry.com. Retrieved on March 25, 2010.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Richard P. Sharkey, "Retired Judge Humphries, Co-founder of Renaissance Home, dies in Alexandria," The Alexandria Town Talk, March 23, 2010.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Renaissance: Our History. renaissancehome.org. Retrieved on March 25, 2010.
  4. ↑ Results for 5/3/2014: Rapides Parish. Louisiana Secretary of State. Retrieved on May 4, 2014.
  5. ↑ Melissa Gregory (March 26, 2025). Renaissance Home for Youth to get a $39 million expansion, says Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry. Alexandria Town Talk.