The Ed and Ava Ledford House is a low management group home for DSS-referred youth ages 10-21 who have not been placed with a family or who are in transition from a more structured program.
These young adults learn how to set and achieve personal and professional goals that lead to either a successful family reunification or independent living. The Bakker Career Center provides clients with education and work experience as well as internships on and off campus. When foster care is not available or appropriate, this program provides a home, educational and behavioral support, and independent living skills for up to 14 youth needing long-term residential care in a less structured setting than the high management home.
The Ed and Ava Ledford House was dedicated on the 215th anniversary of the Charleston Orphan House in honor of the couple’s leadership and commitment to the Carolina Youth Development Center. Ed Ledford was Chief Executive Officer of CYDC from 1980 to 1998.