About Us

OUR VISION

The vision of Life Connections is to create a community in which everyone develops supportive connections, becomes the person they want to be, and finds that the answers to their personal challenges lie within.

OUR MISSION

The mission of Life Connections is to keep kids out of jail and to keep families connected. We do this by providing programs and services designed to develop adolescents and strengthen homes.

Life Connections’ mission is keeping kids out of jail and keeping families connected. We have been developing adolescents and strengthening homes since 1997. We do this through our DASH (Developing Adolescents – Strengthening Homes) programs designed to help our youth and families find their own solutions to whatever problems they face. Since our inception, we have worked with over 5,600 youth and their families most of whom were referred to us from the Department of Juvenile Justice.

We currently operate 19 programs in 13 counties. Our transformative programming is focused on mentoring kids, strengthening families, restorative justice, building kinship, clinical services, and vocational training.

Guiding Principles

CLIENT SERVICES

We commit to quality service and dedicate ourselves to helping others adapt positively to their environment.

INTEGRITY

We take responsibility for our actions and tell the truth in a kind and respectful way.

TEAMWORK

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COMPASSION

We believe others act with positive intent so it’s ok to make a mistake because we learn from them.

MEET OUR TEAM

Glenn Smith

Executive Director & Founder

Glenn Smith is the Founder and Executive Director of Life Connections of the Carolinas, Inc. In 1974, when Glenn was 21 years old and still in college he founded The New Dawn Youth Center in Buckhannon W. Va. a group home for at-risk youth. A year later in 1975, he became the President of the W.V Child Care Association. Five years later, while attending Cornell University’s School of Human Ecology, he worked for the New York State Division of Youth. In 1981, after moving to North Carolina he became the Area Coordinator at Lutheran Family Services. Six years later Glenn founded The Family Connection, a Private Counseling Center which grew to become one of the largest practices in Charlotte.

Wanting to get back to direct services in the community Glenn founded Life Connections Inc. in 1997 and started teaching life skill courses to incarcerated men in the Mecklenburg County Jail. He also served as senior faculty with the International Association of Applied Control Theory, traveling all over the US and Canada, China, and Australia to teach the tenets of Applied Control Theory. In 2017 he established Life Connections of the Carolinas, Inc. a 501c3 with the mission to “keep kids out of jail and keep families connected”. Glenn is passionate about the agency’s DASH programs which develop adolescents and strengthen homes. His goal for Life Connections of the Carolinas is to build a sustainable, thriving organization and leave it in a position to operate