We’re so proud that with the help of generous donors, and
supportive community partners, we’ve had our Runaway Homeless Youth Shelter
open for just about 6 months already! Our original plan was to do a
comprehensive review and report out to the community at 12 months, which we
still plan to do. However, 6 months in, we have come to a few clear
conclusions:
·
Does our region need a Runaway Homeless Youth Shelter? Absolutely!
We’ve sheltered 21 youth already, and we’ve hit capacity (maximum of 6
youth) several times. Because the youth are staying for a relatively short
period of time (2 days to a couple of weeks), our occupancy opens up fairly
quickly. Now, we’re starting to get calls directly from homeless youth
themselves. They’re hearing about our shelter from friends. These youth are
especially vulnerable, because there is no adult in their life who is even
advocating for them – they must reach out and find shelter and help themselves.
·
Are youth improving their lives through our work with them?
Absolutely! We have over a 95% success rate in returning youth
safely back into family homes they know. These youth are getting the medical
and psychiatric help they urgently needed. This is taking a lot of careful
follow up work to assure that these youth are stable, and that the families are
making enough progress in therapy, etc. so that a new crisis doesn’t erupt. We
have been surprised by the degree of “follow up” work is needed to help
maintain these youth in their homes.
·
How “serious” are the situations for these youth? Very serious! We’ve
been shocked by the level of need and intensity of the youth that are
being referred to us: a single teen mother with her infant daughter, a young
man who lived in a community park for weeks, a transgender youth who’s family
is in crisis over her sexual identity. Youth with complex medical issues, major
mental health issues, etc. It’s upsetting to realize that these youth were
“out there” getting no service up until our doors opened in the fall. We
believe there are many more youth in equally serious situations that will
present to us in the coming months.
·
Does Interface have the resources necessary to serve these youth?
Frankly, no! We set a $100K fundraising target for the first year of
operations. This is not enough. We’re at $41K raised so far, but we’re finding
that the youth being referred to us are far more intensive than we anticipated.
This is requiring even more intervention. We’re beginning to dialogue with
county partners on potential new funding, but those discussions take months,
and sometimes years to bring to fruition. We’re also in need of a 7 or 8
passenger van, so that we can continue to transport youth to their own schools
while they are in shelter with us. Right now, we’re burning up the miles on our
staff’s own cars!
The program is in over-drive, yes, but it is also
successful, safe and healthy. Would you pass this blog on to other friends who
you think may have a heart for joining our efforts to meet the needs of these
youth? To all who have helped to make this shelter a reality – from the
youth in need across our region, we thank you!
