Drop in Services: Youth Engagement and Support (YES)

The Youth Engagement and Support (YES) project is a collaboration of the University of Kentucky and the YMCA Safe Place Services. The project’s goal is to increase the number of critical life skills young adults in Louisville possess to become more self-sufficient. We are primarily focusing on young adults 18-24 who are or have been homeless, unstably housed, or involved in the foster care and DJJ system.

We will offer hour long life skill classes:

Tuesday 4:00p-5:00p
Wednesday 11:00a-12:00p and 4:00p-5:00p
Thursday 11:00a-12:00p

Classes are organized in courses but can be taken as individual topics. Courses and topics include but are not limited to:

Workplace Readiness: Getting the Job
• Meaningful Employment
• Networking and Job Searches
• Resumes and Applications
• The Interview
• Getting Hired

Workplace Success: Keeping the Job
• Strengths, Stress, and Self Care
• Professionalism and Work Ethic
• Team Work
• Conflict Management
• Problem Solving and Critical Thinking

Communication 101
• Listening and Body Language
• Speaking and Making a Request
• Conflict Resolution
• Managing Your Emotions

Adulting
• Budgeting
• Banking
• Bills
• Taxes
• Understanding Your Credit
• Web of Support
• Time Management
• Voting & Politics
• Responsibility isn’t a dirty word
• Organization and Cleaning

Classes will be held in the Youth Development Center at 2400 Crittenden Drive. The Center will open one hour before class. Showers and laundry room will be open at this time. Meals will be provided except for Wednesday evening.

We are located on TARC lines 2, 18, and 29.

For more information or a monthly schedule please contact Corbin Hannah at 502.635.4402 or find us on Facebook @lville.adulting or Safe Place Youth Development.

Boys Haven Equine Program

 

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At Boys and Girls Haven the barn is not only a place for animals but a learning and living classroom. Foster  youth and young adults (ages 16-24) can learn career readiness skills and practice vocational skills in a safe and secure setting. The Equine Vocational Training Program uses the horses and facility to help develop vocational training for abused and neglected youth and young adults who are disconnected in the community. The program utilizes horses, other animals, and barn management as a tool for helping youth develop vocational skills.  The Junior Achievement Curriculum, Personal Success is used to prepare students to be college and career ready. The program integrates the curriculum from JA to insure coverage of all skills needed to be successful in finding employment and keeping employment.  Life skills that are needed to gain and maintain employment are also focused on throughout the program. Equine assisted learning is used to help integrate skills they learn in the classroom and applies them to real life and work situations. Our goal is to help foster youth and disconnected and homeless young adults gain the skills and self-confidence to succeed in the workplace and in life. A CDBG and EAF grant with the City of Louisville makes it possible for us to provide this very needed service in our community. For more information, contact Jeannette Stratton at jstratton@boyshaven.org or 502-458-1171 extension 113.

Youth Voice Report

Throughout 2017, the Coalition Supporting Young Adults has conducted research on the needs and goals of Louisville’s disconnected youth and young adults, as they describe them. More than 200 young people shared their stories, hopes and challenges in discussion groups, surveys and interviews. On Jan 8, 2018, CSYA will host a community conversation about the study’s results and the collective actions we can take to support them. We hope you’ll join us. Learn more…

 

 

Louisville Houses 115 Homeless Youth and Young Adults in 100 Days

November 8, 2017 – A team of partners, led by the Coalition for the Homeless, completed a 100-Day Challenge to accelerate efforts to end youth homelessness. This work was made possible through funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and private philanthropic partners. Rapid Results Institute (RRI) and HomeBase will offer technical support to the team, as they strive to meet their goals. 

A 100-Day Challenge is a project where a community decides together on an incredibly ambitious goal: to end experiences of homelessness for a large number of young people in their community. With just 100 days to meet their goal, everyone from community leaders down to front-line workers are invited to do their work differently, change systems and innovate. In order to make great strides, communities must take on great challenges. The limited timeframe, the high-profile effort, and the intensive support from RRI results in communities progressing on three major tasks: problem solving, innovation, and partnership-building. 

The Coalition for the Homeless’s work to understand youth homelessness, launched initially in 2013, soon led to the creation of the Coalition Supporting Young Adults (CSYA) and a community mapping of existing resources for homeless youth, including youth shelter; drop in centers; and education, employment and housing opportunities. This mapping process enabled CSYA and the community to identify gaps and potential opportunities to re-allocate existing resources. The collaborative work of CSYA has already supported the development of new resources including two new drop-in centers, a community-wide plan to reengage out of school youth and a professional development program to train a cohort of “connectors” who can quickly link homeless and disconnected youth. In addition to CSYA, a Youth Advisory Board, an Education/Employment Collaborative, and a Homeless Youth Committee consisting of 41 community leaders have also all been formed. These entities will be crucial as Louisville continues to address youth homelessness during the 100-Day Challenge.

“Our plan and implementation must not only address the housing needs of approximately 868 youth, but also create preventive solutions to keep the large number of precariously housed youth counted by JCPS not only out of the shelters, but in a safe setting that allows them to thrive,” says Natalie Harris, Executive Director of the Coalition for the Homeless in Louisville. “One of our main focuses will be in creating transitional and rapid rehousing programs integrated with education and employment.”

Coalition for the Homeless

About the Coalition for the Homeless

The Coalition for the Homeless, located at 1300 S. 4th Street, Suite 250, is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization with a mission to prevent and eliminate homelessness in Louisville. The Coalition has a three-pronged approach to this mission: advocacy, education, and coordination of their 31 member agencies that provide a variety of services to the homeless throughout the city. To learn more about how to support this work, become a mentor or hire a young person, go to Coalition for the Homeless website or Facebook page

Louisville Commits to Ending Youth Homelessness

Get involved with this coordinated effort, led by the Coalition for the Homeless, to end youth homeless:

MENTOR a Young Person

REimage

Y-Now

Uspiritus

CASA

Kentucky Refugee Ministries

Louisville Youth Group

Orphan Care Alliance

Family and Children’s Place

HIRE a Young Person

REimage

Kentucky Youth Career Center

Mayor’s SummerWorks

YouthBuild Louisville

VOLUNTEER Time and Resources

Home of the Innocents

Kristi Love Foundation

Restorative Justice

TAYLRD (Centerstone)

Volunteers of America

YMCA Safe Place

YouthBuild Louisville

Family Scholar House

DONATE to Organizations Serving Homeless Youth

Coalition for the Homeless– please designate donations for agencies that help homeless youth

YMCA Safe Place Services 

 Emergency assistance, services and shelter for homeless persons under 22 years old available
24 hours through the Safe Place Hotline502-635-5233.

Open post

The challenge is on to curb youth homelessness

Keep it 100 Louisville


Courier Journal Updated 8:01 a.m. ET Aug. 17, 2017

mk Eagle, Guest Contributor

Most of us have never started our day wondering where we would sleep that night. We’ve never had to choose between paying rent and buying food or diapers. Never come home after an argument to find that the locks have been changed. Never sought refuge under an overpass or in a stranger’s car. But for young people all over our city, these struggles are an everyday reality.

In 2016, there were 443 homeless young adults (age 18-24) in Louisville, plus an additional 450 youth below age 18 served by YMCA Safe Place Services, for a total of 893 unaccompanied homeless youth. Louisville Metro has also identified 21,000 “disconnected youth” who are not engaged in education or employment. These young adults are equally in need of services in order to protect their own future opportunities, as well as lowering long-term costs to our community.

We know that failing to address the needs of homeless youth actually leads to higher future costs. The largest burdens on taxpayers are the effects of crime and lost earnings. The estimated annual cost for those 443 homeless young adults in Louisville is $15,782,835, which does not include what their own children will cost our community if we do not invest in these young parents’ futures. The likelihood of a lifetime of government assistance for young adults increases exponentially if their needs are not addressed by the age of 24. 

Strategic intervention for even a few of these young adults can drastically impact the cost to our community. Getting our disconnected youth to a place of stability – and particularly economic self-sufficiency – can help cover the costs of other youth in crisis and avoid millions in expenditures. 

On Aug. 1, the Coalition for the Homeless and a team of local service providers and community leaders launched the 100-Day Challenge, a project designed to stimulate intense collaboration, innovation, and execution, all in pursuit of an ambitious goal to house at least 100 homeless youth and young adults in Louisville by Nov. 8, 2017.

100-Day Challenges are part of a growing national movement to prevent and end youth homelessness in America. In Austin, Cleveland, and Los Angeles, 413 young people exited homelessness and were housed in just 100 days—exceeding those cities’ original goals.

Rapid progress and rapid change typically go hand in hand. We hope that this goal will inspire everyone – from community leaders to everyday citizens – to do their work differently, question assumptions about the systems they participate in, and think more innovatively.

Over the past several years, Louisville Metro has been successful in lowering the number of chronic street homeless and homeless veterans within our community through concerted efforts and funding for housing targeted to these populations.

Focusing on life-changing services versus meeting basic needs is the key to intervention and long-lasting success. We know that our compassionate city is filled with resources for struggling young adults, but we also know that the current system can be overwhelming to navigate. 

Ways for members of the community to get involved and help our city reach the 100-Day Challenge goal include donating to Rx: Housing to fund deposits and furniture, hiring or mentoring a homeless or disconnected young person, and advocating for more funding for the Louisville Affordable Housing Trust Fund. In addition, landlords can rent housing to a homeless person with a voucher and supportive services by contacting John Miles with the Office of Resilience and Community Services.

The 100-Day Challenge is also on Facebook (keepit100louisville) and a crowd funding website called YouCaring for those who wish to donate directly to the challenge.

Homelessness does not have to define the course of a young person’s life. Members of our Youth Advisory Board—young people who were once homeless themselves—now work, go to school, and raise their own children in safe, stable housing. They’ve dedicated their time and talent to the 100-Day Challenge. What will your commitment be?

mk eagle

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

mk Eagle is a library programs supervisor for the Louisville Free Public Library, Main Branch, and is the co-leader of the 100-Day Challenge Team.

Ending Youth Homelessness

Louisville Commits to Ending Youth and Young Adult Homelessness by 2020  

August 1, 2017 – A team of partners, led by the Coalition for the Homeless, has been selected to represent Louisville in a 100-Day Challenge to accelerate efforts to end youth homelessness. This work is made possible through funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and private philanthropic partners. Rapid Results Institute (RRI) and HomeBase will offer technical support to the team, as they strive to meet their goals. 

A 100-Day Challenge is a project where a community decides together on an incredibly ambitious goal: to end experiences of homelessness for a large number of young people in their community. With just 100 days to meet their goal, everyone from community leaders down to front-line workers are invited to do their work differently, change systems and innovate. In order to make great strides, communities must take on great challenges. The limited timeframe, the high-profile effort, and the intensive support from RRI results in communities progressing on three major tasks: problem solving, innovation, and partnership-building. 

The Coalition for the Homeless’s work to understand youth homelessness, launched initially in 2013, soon led to the creation of the Coalition Supporting Young Adults (CSYA) and a community mapping of existing resources for homeless youth, including youth shelter; drop in centers; and education, employment and housing opportunities. This mapping process enabled CSYA and the community to identify gaps and potential opportunities to re-allocate existing resources. The collaborative work of CSYA has already supported the development of new resources including two new drop-in centers, a community-wide plan to reengage out of school youth and a professional development program to train a cohort of “connectors” who can quickly link homeless and disconnected youth. In addition to CSYA, a Youth Advisory Board, an Education/Employment Collaborative, and a Homeless Youth Committee consisting of 41 community leaders have also all been formed. These entities will be crucial as Louisville continues to address youth homelessness during the 100-Day Challenge.

“Our plan and implementation must not only address the housing needs of approximately 868 youth, but also create preventive solutions to keep the large number of precariously housed youth counted by JCPS not only out of the shelters, but in a safe setting that allows them to thrive,” says Natalie Harris, Executive Director of the Coalition for the Homeless in Louisville. “One of our main focuses will be in creating transitional and rapid rehousing programs integrated with education and employment.”

Coalition for the Homeless

There are many ways to get involved with this effort to end youth homelessness. Click here to learn more: 

MENTOR a Young Person

HIRE a Young Person

VOLUNTEER Time and Resources 

DONATE to Organizations Serving Homeless Youth

About the Coalition for the Homeless

The Coalition for the Homeless, located at 1300 S. 4th Street, Suite 250, is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization with a mission to prevent and eliminate homelessness in Louisville. The Coalition has a three-pronged approach to this mission: advocacy, education, and coordination of their 31 member agencies that provide a variety of services to the homeless throughout the city. The Coalition for the Homeless and 41 partners began a city-wide effort to end youth and young adult homelessness in 2017. You can change a life. Be a mentor or hire a young adult in need in our community. To learn more about the Coalition visit www.louhomeless.org, call (502) 636-9550, or find The Coalition for the Homeless on Facebook at www.facebook.com/LouHomeless or on Twitter @louhomeless.

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