A live-in drug rehab center for youth is planning to make its new home in Rutland County but the director isn't saying where, just yet.

Hope and Community Inc., a newly incorporated nonprofit group, is planning to announce its new location Monday.

Jarod Sherman, a counselor and director of the fledgling substance abuse treatment and prevention program, said Thursday that a property in Rutland County is under contract and it's expected to be signed prior to the announcement.

Sherman refused to disclose where the property is located at a public forum held by the nonprofit Thursday night in the Franklin Conference Room at Rutland's Howe Center. About two dozen people attended the forum.

At a public forum April 15, Sherman announced that Killington was out as a possible location because a potential property there would be too costly to renovate.

Many residents also disapproved of the center coming to their neighborhood, going so far as submitting a petition to try to ban it from the residential zone.

But more than 100 attendees of that forum continued to express a need for long-term, live-in treatment in the Rutland area.

The second public meeting Thursday exposed many of those same reasons.

"My vision for this project is a long-term family environment for those just out of jail and suffering from severe addictions," said Mike Napolitano, owner of Awesome Graphics Inc. and a motivational speaker in the area who works with those in recovery to help others.

"The real vision is to take all this experience around us … the men who have lived it and done it," and have a central location for it, he said. "All the credentials in the world won't take the place of someone who has lived it."

The nonprofit's idea is to set up an aftercare facility for youths out of jail and those recovering from drug and alcohol abuse, ages 14 to 22.

Sherman said in April he was seeking state licenses to set up at least four facilities.

Sherman said Thursday he would get his first license with the state Department for Children and Families to operate a residential child care facility for eight youths of those ages shortly after he closes on the property next week.

Brenda Dawson, the licensing social worker with the department working directly with the nonprofit, did not return a call for comment Thursday.

In an interview last week, Dawson said she was scheduled to visit a prospective property in Rutland County this week.

Peg Andrews, a state representative for Rutland, and Rutland Mayor Christopher Louras were in attendance at Thursday's meeting.

Andrews said she was dedicated to the idea of strong family environments being integral parts of society and supported the program's prevention aspect.

Don McGee, founder of Wallingford's Serenity House and two other transitional homes for those in recovery, said he supported anything "to help the sick and suffering."

His Serenity House has opened its doors to 60,000 recovering addicts since 1972, he said.

But he did have one concern.

"I see a problem with mixing 14-year-olds with 22-year-olds," he said, "unless you want them on the fast track (back) to addiction."

cristina.kumka@rutlandherald.com