The Ozone House records have been divided into eight series: Meeting Minutes; Grants and Funding; Worker Training; Publicity and Outreach; Topical Files; Drug Helpline; Visual Materials, and Worker to Worker Notebooks. The records document the administration and various counseling, training, fundraising and outreach activities of Ozone House.
Ozone House was founded in 1969 by members of the Ann Arbor community who were concerned about the many homeless runaways drawn to the area by the town's radical reputation. At that time Ann Arbor was part of a "runaway triangle", along with Florida and Berkeley, California, which drew runaway would-be hippies from all over the country. Ozone was meant to be a haven for young people who were unable to cope with life on the street, and was staffed mainly by volunteers who provided crisis counseling as well as advice, food and moral support. The organization has evolved in response to changes in society, for example its clients include fewer runaways and more teenagers forced to leave home involuntarily, but it has maintained its focus on the needs of young people and their families.
One of the oldest runaway shelters in the country, Ozone was originally part of the Community Center Coordinating Council [C4], which in the late 1960s provided social services to young people who either did not qualify for help from established human services agencies, or else did not feel comfortable dealing with them. Ozone began as a "crash pad" at St. Andrew's Episcopal Church, and took its name from a Commander Cody and the Lost Planet Airmen song: "Lost in the Ozone Again".
Since 1970, Ozone changed locations several times and has gradually become more cooperative with mainstream social service agencies and the police. However, as an organization, for many years it maintained a distinctive attitude which reflected its anti-establishment beginnings. This was due in large measure to its collective decision-making structure and heavy reliance on volunteers. Small collectives had authority to make some decisions regarding specific areas of service, such as training or fundraising. Collectives also assessed needs and suggested solutions, which were then brought forward for discussion by the General Body, which was composed of all paid staff, volunteers and the Board of Directors. All major policy issues and decisions were discussed by the General Body until consensus was reached. While the process could be slow and circuitous at times, Ozoners believed that it gave them a greater personal stake in how Ozone House was run.
Changing times and reliance on outside agencies for funding made it difficult to maintain Ozone's unusual administrative structure. By the early 1990s, trained professionals were doing work which in the past had been done by volunteers; this created some tension between old and new Ozone workers. Ozone's services had become more structured as well. In the organization's early days, staff sometimes resorted to "moling" - illegally placing minors in private homes when parents would not consent to placing them in foster care. But as outside funding became more difficult to attract and maintain, Ozone had to become more mainstream, and risks like "moling" were no longer taken.
Ozone's services also became more extensive during the 1980s. In 1984, Ozone founded Miller House, where homeless teenagers could receive free room and board while they worked and learned independent living skills. Although maintaining funding for Miller House has been a struggle, and it was forced to close for most of 1994, it has been a successful and innovative program.
The collective system was officially abandoned in March 1995, in favor of a more typical hierarchical administrative structure. Key responsibilities are carried out by paid staff rather than volunteers, whose main activity is to provide support on the crisis phone lines. Ozone's main services did not change, however, as it continues to provide help to runaways, as well as counseling, information, referrals, temporary foster care, and support groups for teenagers and their families.
