Our History
Tuttle-Newton Home was chartered as The Augusta Orphan Asylum in 1852 to support the work of an orphanage. The name of the institution was changed in 1915 to honor its primary benefactors, Mr. Isaac S. Tuttle and his stepson, Dr. George M. Newton. Tuttle-Newton functioned as an orphanage until 1946. After institutional care was discontinued, Tuttle-Newton continued to support the needs of children and their families by providing shelter or emergency financial aid, and by helping families access services for their children, such as child care, so a single parent could join the workforce.
For many years Tuttle-Newton Home was the singular resource in Augusta to assist children. To add more workers in the field of child services, Tuttle-Newton paid the first Child Welfare worker to come to Augusta. Tuttle-Newton paid the workers salary and provided office space on Broad Street for her use for a period of two years. Our history also includes enabling a shelter for abused children to become a reality by purchasing a home for Child Enrichment, Inc., to operate as the first such shelter in Augusta.
As the needs of families and children have changed and as the social services landscape has changed, Tuttle-Newton has adapted, addressing gaps in the social service delivery system. Today we honor the original intent of our benefactors by seeing that children are living in safe environments and have access to education, therapeutic support, and supervised recreation to enable them to reach their potential as healthy, autonomous citizens.
During our last fiscal year, we served more than 500 children. Children were provided tuition support to attend special academic placements; many other students were provided access to tutorial services to help them master basic skills commiserate with their grade placement. Tuttle Newton Home even helped pay for a service dog to receive special training so a child with a medical condition could return to the classroom with the support she needed. After-school programs and summer camp registrations were paid. Child care was provided to mothers trying to return to work or school. Many moms were approved for public assistance for child-care; however, a gap exists between the approval of funds and funds being received. We filled in that gap. We also paid for child-care workers to receive state-required classes so their facilities could remain open. We provided motel stays and board for homeless students so they could have a place to stay while finishing school. A Mom’s Read and Play program was sponsored to help homeless moms learn the importance of spending time with young children (each mom was given a book to take with them to read to their child). Children coming to the medical center from out of town were provided ancillary support in the way of gift cards for food and gas during their stay in Augusta. We also provide emergency financial aid to families, with special emphasis on addressing the needs of children such as medication, eye exams and glasses, as well as assisting with rent and utilities to support the successful completion of programs.
Our target service population is the working poor. Most families on our caseload have at least one income, which typically renders them ineligible for public assistance. We monitor and supervise placements and support the successful completion of programs by providing counseling if deemed appropriate and providing ancillary support, such as tutoring, to encourage success.
Emily Boyles has been our agency director since 1989. She has a master’s degree in clinical psychology and is a licensed professional counselor (LPC). She monitors and supervises all placements of children, working closely with parents and the receiving agencies. She works diligently to ensure that all disbursements represent investments in the lives of the children and families we serve.
The administrative expenses of Tuttle-Newton Home are 100% covered by the income from a small investment account. We depend on grants and contributions from civic clubs, our trustees, foundations, and other charitable resources to support our programs.