National Homeless Youth Awareness Month
In 2007, November was declared National Homeless Youth Awareness Month. About 2.5 million youth experience homelessness per year. In Lake County 5.1% of enrolled students are experiencing homelessness and the data shows that homelessness tends to be overrepresented in urban areas. Homelessness can cause an array of obstacles for students. They can struggle to maintain their grades and begin to have mental and physical health struggles. This month is about coming together as a community to raise awareness about homelessness and provide resources/help to our youth/families that are struggling to find shelter.
“Every child deserves to have a roof over their head and a warm place to sleep at night”
– Senator Joe Manchin (WV)
7 Ways You Can Help
A big way to help youth experiencing homelessness is giving your time. Take time in your week to donate clothes, foods, and resources. Take time to support your local shelters. Take time to advocate. The biggest part of helping our youth is by giving our time to them.
Do Something has provided seven ways we can help youth experiencing homelessness, check out the list below!
- Donate needed clothing (like jeans)
One of the most commonly requested items in homeless shelters is a pair of jeans. Why? Jeans are comfortable in any season and can be worn multiple times between washes. Plus, for a teenager without many belongings, wearing a pair of jeans can provide a sense of normalcy. Here’s what Hamilton Families Shelter Program Director Kathy Marsala had to say about it: “Having a crisp new pair of jeans, believe it or not, boosts confidence, self-esteem, and makes them feel whole. At least while they are in school, they can forget that they are in a shelter and have some kind of normality amongst their peers. It’s the little things we take for granted that matter.”
- Help provide meals in your community
People navigating homelessness often struggle to find enough to eat, and this is especially true when it comes to young people, who often have a harder time accessing proper nutrition. One study found that one-third of unhoused and runaway teens experience food insecurity each month. Find your local food pantry or meal provider, and ask how you can help. That could mean volunteering to help serve meals or making a donation of non-perishable food items.
- Support your local homeless shelter
Homeless and transitional shelters are so vital to getting young people the help that they need. Not only can they provide a safe place to sleep, they often also work to connect folks with other outside resources. That’s why it’s so important to support these programs and help them continue to provide care. Find your local homeless shelter, and contact them about volunteering or making a donation (with the help of this seasonal donation guide).
- Challenge your assumptions and educate others
There are a lot of misconceptions out there about youth homelessness, and its lack of visibility accounts for a lot of the misunderstanding. We need to get introspective about our biases, learn the actual facts, and then help educate others. Pilar Barreyro, Director at Point Source Youth sums it up best: “At minimum, challenge your assumptions and unpack your stigmas around homelessness, poverty and more. Emancipate yourself from misinformation by getting informed, asking questions, and using that knowledge to join the various fights for liberation.” You can start by reading these 8 things you need to understand about youth experiencing homelessness. Then, watch and share youth perspectives from across the country at Point Source Youth’s Media & Visual Storytelling Library.
- Share crucial resources
For a lot of people, homelessness is a totally unexpected experience triggered by a sudden, destabilizing event (like job loss or a family tragedy), so folks may not know exactly where to seek help. It’s hard enough navigating different programs and services in general — much less as a teenager. You can make it easier for young people in your community to find the help they need. We’ve listed a few resources below — share them on social media, print them on flyers, or even ask your teacher about ways to get them distributed in your school.
- Health Insurance options for at-risk, homeless, and vulnerable youth
- The Crisis Center is a crisis intervention & prevention agency, offering programs and services, such as, emergency youth shelter, runaway & homeless youth outreach, and more.
- Advocate for policies that address youth homelessness
One of the most impactful things you can do for youth experiencing homelessness is creating systemic change. Support policies that provide assistance and opportunity for currently unhoused individuals. Then go a step further and become an advocate for things like affordable housing, access to health care, livable wages, and criminal justice reform (all things that help prevent homelessness). Use these websites to take action on policies related to general homelessness. Plus, make sure you’re register to vote so that you can elect representatives who are committed to addressing homelessness in your community.
- Just listen
Whether it’s a classmate who’s currently unhoused, a person you just met at a shelter, or someone sharing their story of homelessness online, it’s important that you listen to the folks who are directly impacted by these issues. They know firsthand the problems they’ve faced and the help that they need, so let them communicate that to you. And sometimes just listening is enough. In fact, the National Center for Health Research reports that youth experiencing homelessness often find it beneficial when people are “there for them” — without trying to solve all of their problems.
(219) 938-7070
101 N Montgomery Street
Gary, IN 46403
crisiscenterysb.org
Spotlight: Heartland Wellness Center
The Crisis Center, Inc. are strengthening communities and empowering families with emphasis on children in need of shelter, safety and support.
Services Offered:
Alternative house
Emergency Shelter & Promises
Alternative House is an emergency shelter for boys and girls, ages 10 to 20, who are runaways, homeless, abused or neglected and need help to resolve problems and successfully return home or to an alternative, safe living situation. The maximum state regulated stay is 20 days.
Alternative House “Promises” is the open residential, long term care program that offers youth a caring, structured therapeutic environment aimed at a successful transition to their next steps in life, including independence.
Safe Place
A connection to our Emergency Shelter that provides boys & girls, ages 10 – 18 who are in a threatening situation, homeless, pushed out of home, a runaway, with an unsafe or drunk driver immediate shelter, counseling and resources for individual and/or family services.
Crisis Contact Hotline
Linked to the National Suicide Prevention Telephone lines.
- Dial 988 or 1-800-Suicide
- 1-800-273-TALK
- For Spanish 1-888-628-9454
Ways to Give
Donations are a major way we can help. The list below are places anyone can donate clothing, food, old cell phones, gift cards, or look into volunteer options.
- Sojourner Truth House – Thank you for helping to reduce homelessness and hunger for individuals and families. Generous, compassionate people like you are behind every success story at Sojourner Truth House. When you give to Sojourner Truth House, your gift is immediately used to ensure our clients in Gary and the surrounding communities of Lake County, Indiana have the resources they need.
- St. Jude House – Last year St. Jude House served more than 500 adults and children, providing more than 10,000 nights of emergency shelter. Our 24-hour crisis line took thousands of calls and our non-residential group programming served hundreds more. We provide the essential basic needs like shelter, food and clothing to those escaping horrific violence with little more than the clothes on their back. We empower our clients to leave behind a life of abuse with our comprehensive and compassionate programming and services.
- Covenant House – Covenant House was founded in 1972 to protect runaway, homeless, and exploited youth. In 1981, they formed their Latin American branch – Casa Alianza– to support youth amidst the devastating humanitarian crises in Honduras, Mexico, Guatemala, and Nicaragua. Today, they maintain their headquarters in New York, and operate homeless shelters and youth programs in 31 cities throughout North America and Central America.
- StandUp for Kids – StandUp for Kids has been working to end the cycle of youth homelessness in Chicago since 2009. Over the last twelve years, we have learned that our youth have dreams, goals, and visions for the future — and we want to support them by helping turn those dreams into reality.
November Recommendations
Please, be wary that this month’s recommendations deal with topics that can be triggering. The topics deal with homelessness, abuse, and racism. It is important to bring awareness to these topics, but it is also important to know one’s limitations and boundaries. Please, be safe and take caution in reading and watching these materials.
Where I Live
Written By Brenda Rufener
Trigger Warnings: Homelessness, racism, physical abuse
Linden Rose has a big secret–she is homeless and living in the halls of her small-town high school. Her position as school blog editor, her best friends, Ham and Seung, and the promise of a future far away are what keep Linden under the radar and moving forward.
Rosie
Directed by: Paddy Reathnach
Trigger Warnings: Homelessness
The story of a mother trying to protect her family after their landlord sells their rented home and they become homeless.
