Orange County Teen Challenge

Orange County Teen Challenge offers an adolescent boys residential program for ages 12 to 17. The program also includes drug education and prevention, teen and gang intervention, clubs and a learning center for children, juvenile hall and jail ministry, crisis counseling, evangelism, mentorship, an afterschool learning center, tutoring, and parenting classes.

Programs

• Adolescent boys ages 12–17 residential program — 12-17 · One-year residential drug recovery program for adolescent boys.
• Men and women over the age of 18 residential program — 18-19 · One-year residential drug recovery program for men and women over the age of 18.
• Drug education and prevention
• Teen and gang intervention
• Clubs and a learning center for children
• Juvenile hall and jail ministry
• Crisis counseling
• Evangelism
• Mentorship
• Afterschool learning center — A computer lab and learning center was opened for kids to study and receive tutoring after school.
• Tutoring
• Parenting classes — For families with at-risk youth and pregnant teens.

At a glance

• Ages: 12–17 years old

About the provider

Orange County Teen Challenge began in 1966. Its early history includes a coffee house in Huntington Beach in 1967, a facility purchase on Main St. in Santa Ana in the 1980s, the addition of God’s Gang in 1992, a satellite center in San Juan Capistrano in 2002, and the acquisition of a 4,000-square-foot building in 2006. The director and center director is Shane Parr. The ministry says evangelism and outreach to at-risk youth and families have always been at the heart of its work in Orange County Teen Challenge, and it received Disney’s top award for community outreach.

The one-year adult program starts with approximately three months in an Induction Center, then transfers to a long-term center for an additional nine months. The program provides Christian discipleship classes, individual advising sessions, vocational training, basic computer classes, GED certificate and high school diploma courses, and curriculum designed to help students re-integrate into society.

Last updated October 10, 2026.