Our story
Lanternhouse started in 2011 with two apartments, a borrowed van, and a founder who knew exactly what it felt like to age out with nowhere to go.
Every year, about 500 young people age out of foster care in North Carolina. Many leave with no family to call, no place to live, and no idea how to sign a lease. Within a few years, too many are homeless, out of work, or back in a system as adults.
Danielle Whitfield was one of them. She aged out in 2003 with a trash bag of clothes and a bus ticket. Eight years later, after a master's degree and seven years as a caseworker, she opened two apartments in west Charlotte for young adults who had nowhere else to go.
Fifteen years on, Lanternhouse is the largest organization in the Carolinas focused only on young adults leaving foster care. We still start the same way: with a light on and somebody waiting.
Mission
Lanternhouse gives young adults leaving foster care a place to land, people in their corner, and a path to the life they choose.
What we believe
Nobody ages out of us
There's no upper age limit on calling us. Alumni in their thirties still drop by for dinner.
Young people decide
Our Youth Advisory Council reviews every new program before it launches, and young adults choose their own mentors.
Show the numbers
We publish what works, what doesn't, and where every dollar goes.
Dignity in the details
New sheets, not used ones. A welcome note on the counter. A key on day one.
Fifteen years
- 2011
Danielle Whitfield opens two apartments with a borrowed van and $38,000 in donations from her church and former colleagues.
- 2012
Anchor Mentors launches with 11 volunteers. One of those first matches is still active.
- 2014
Lanternhouse reaches 20 apartments and hires its first full-time therapist.
- 2016
Pathways begins with three employer partners and a $50,000 scholarship fund.
- 2018
Young Parents launches after alumni ask for it at a Youth Advisory Council meeting.
- 2019
The community raises $2.4 million to buy and renovate The Porch, a 1920s mill house in West End.
- 2020
The Porch stays open every single day of the pandemic, serving 41,000 meals.
- 2023
Lanternhouse advocates successfully for state funding that extends Medicaid outreach to former foster youth.
- 2025
Landing Homes reaches 92 apartments. Lanternhouse serves 1,186 young adults, its most ever.
- 2026
Lanternhouse marks 15 years with the opening of a second drop-in center in north Charlotte, planned for spring 2027.
Keep the light on for the next one.
Every gift goes to work in Charlotte, right away.