“I mean, we are taking the whole person, and the whole person can be a lot of things. They can be a little broken, or they can be very broken. They can have some self-esteem or no self-esteem. You have all different adjustments you make. The adjustment we’re making now is a very simple adjustment.”
Biography: William "Bill" Fusco was born and raised in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, in a working class family. He became involved in “street life” as a young teenager. A few run-ins with the law landed him at Phoenix House in 1968. Fusco was in treatment for two years, and eventually came to serve the organization as a “pioneer,” opening up and renovating new houses. He left Phoenix House in 1970, and subsequently dedicated his life to furthering the therapeutic community model. He soon established Dynamic Youth Community in the Midwood neighborhood of Brooklyn, which extends the therapeutic model to work with at-risk youth and their families.
Keywords: Phoenix House; New York City; Brooklyn; 88th Street; Spanish Harlem; Phelan Place; Prospect Place; Putnam Valley; substance abuse treatment; acquisitions; therapeutic community; Sunset Park; Mitchell Rosenthal; Ronald Williams; Julio Martinez; Dynamic Youth Community; adolescents
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