Steven Tyler stands together with girls who will receive treatment at Janie’s House at the center’s grand opening on Youth Villages’ Bartlett, Tennessee campus on February 6, 2019.
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member Steven Tyler earlier this week celebrated the opening of a second Janie’s House residential center, a partnership between his philanthropic organization Janie’s Fund and the national family services nonprofit Youth Villages.
Janie’s House provides support to vulnerable young girls who are survivors of abuse and neglect. The new center’s “scarf-cutting” and grand opening took place Feb. 4 at Youth Villages’ Bartlett Campus, just outside of Memphis, where guests included Tyler, community leaders, donors, Youth Villages’ staff and young women who are residents of the new center. Janie’s House has residential accommodations for up to 30 girls annually, offering access to 24-hour medical care and therapeutic support. The Janie’s House Bartlett Campus location is 3,900 square feet with several day rooms, an outdoor living space overlooking a scenic lake, and inspirational murals and inspirational quotes chosen by Tyler.
This is the second Janie’s House opened by Tyler and Janie’s Fund. The first opened in 2017 at Youth Villages’ Inner Harbour Campus outside of Atlanta, Georgia.
“The mission of Janie’s Fund does my heart and my soul good,” Tyler said. “This is real – to help even just one girl through Janie’s House is a dream come true… just when the world feels over, you can turn into a butterfly.”
Tyler has long had a desire to help with this issue, leading back to the 1980s when he was in a program for his personal recovery. There, he heard a story of a woman who had experienced incredibly painful and debilitating sexual abuse as a child and how those gruesome events put her on a path of suffering that eventually led to her abusing drugs to mask the pain.
The song “Janie’s Got a Gun,” released in 1989, told the story of a young girl who was abused by her father. Over the 26 years since that song was released, Tyler says he has often thought about what could have been done to prevent that kind of abuse. In November 2015, Tyler’s dream came true with the creation of Janie’s Fund, in partnership with Youth Villages. Janie’s House is just one way this dynamic philanthropic initiative is helping girls overcome the trauma they’ve experienced through abuse and neglect.