A Call to Act!

The CSYA Team has committed to participating in a Monthly Community Outreach. The CSYA mission is to bring transformational change for young adults. We believe in a collective approach to bring this mission to life. This month we decided to volunteer at St. Vincent De Paul to feed those in need a free meal with the Office of Safe & Healthy Neighborhoods. We, alongside other volunteers helped serve a hot dinner to over 200 people in need.

If you are in need of volunteers for anything please email our Director of Development, Breanna Carter: BCarter@CSYALouisville.org

Courier Journal Highlights Community’s Disconnected Youth

Mandy McLaren @mandy_mclaren 

THREAD: I filed this story last Thursday, hours before the first night of protests in Louisville. It was published on Monday, but, understandably, I doubt you saw it. Here’s one big reason why I hope you will still find time to read & share. 

How the coronavirus pandemic multiplies struggles for Louisville’s disconnected youth Without increased support for the out-of-school, out-of-work young adults, experts fear the worst is yet to come.

Last night, while covering the #LouisvilleProtests, I found myself on East Broadway, under an interstate overpass. And while I was doing my best to capture the powerful demonstration that was unfolding, I turned and locked eyes with a young man.

He wasn’t there to protest. He was just walking by. Instantly, I was jolted by the realization: I knew him. 

We met last summer, when I was spending many hours at the YMCA SafePlace drop-in center for homeless youth. Unlike other youths there who knew each other by name & used SafePlace as a spot not just for food and internet, but also social connection, this young man kept to himself.

When I saw him there on Tuesday nights, he typically grabbed a few slices of pizza and sat at a table, always aware of his surroundings. One evening, he asked if it would be OK to sit by me. And little by little, he started talking. 

I wish we weren’t in a pandemic right now and I was in the newsroom so that I could dig out my notebook and truly tell this young man’s story with the detail it deserves. 

What I do remember clearly is that he had been homeless for quite some time — sleeping, often, in junkyard cars, he said. He talked about having to make sure he woke early, getting out of dodge before the sun rose and was caught trespassing. 

He was older than the other youths at SafePlace. He said he had spent a few years in one of the Carolinas — I can’t remember which — where he had a girlfriend, a job and a roof over his head. 

But things with the girlfriend didn’t work out. And he felt the tug of Louisville, the city he grew up in, pulling him back. So he returned. 

He stayed short on details about what followed once he got back, but it was clear that whatever happened, he was making the choice at the time we met to distance himself from his own family. He told me he was trying to get clean. 

I’m not sure the last time I saw him at SafePlace. And at this point, I haven’t been back over there in months, so he could still be stopping by. When I saw him last night, it was clear by his appearance that he was still homeless. 

Even though I was wearing a baseball cap and a mask, it was clear he recognized me, too. Over the protesters’ chants, I tried to explain who I was, to see if he understood our connection. He smiled and nodded. Maybe he knew. Maybe he was just being polite. 

I said something silly like “Are you OK? Are you safe?” and he nodded some more. Then, with no further conversation possible amid the chaos, we waved goodbye and he continued on his way. 

I watched as he, a young black man, walked on, his body directly between the shouting protesters and a line of armed police officers. I wish I knew what he made of it all. 

I’m recounting this to you now because if the pandemic and the protests have reminded me of anything, it’s this: Louisville’s disconnected youth are hurting. And whether they’re shouting their pain at a protest or holding it all in, they are counting on city leaders to help. 

So again, here’s that story you probably missed: How the coronavirus pandemic multiplies struggles for Louisville’s disconnected youth 

Here’s what @louisvillemayor is proposing as a starting point: Mayor Greg Fischer administration seeking $1.5M to support Louisville’s disconnected youth

And here’s the in-depth series I wrote for the @courierjournal last year that brought these important voices to the forefront: Louisville has large number of youth who are out of school or work.

Youth Homelessness Resources

The Coalition for the Homeless has released a flyer describing the HUD funded services in Louisville to end youth homelessness. Help spread the word to young people and partners about these important new opportunities.

TAYLRD

TAYLRD provides services to youth (18-24) who are experiencing homelessness or at risk of homelessness. Case managers assist youth in developing a housing plan, which focuses on their unique housing needs. Case managers also assist youth in securing documents, benefits, &/or referrals to community resources that would further support youth in meeting their goals. Youth can also meet with TAYLRD’s onsite physical and mental health staff and find support through our life skills groups, laundry service, meals, hygiene products, Wi-Fi, and computers.

Drop-in hours MonFri 2pm-5pm or by appointment. 1020 E. Broadway. | LOUISVILLE, KY 40204 | CENTERSTONE.ORG Main Phone Line: 502-690-4399 or call Michele Isham at 502-639-0547

Family Scholar House

The mission of Family Scholar House is to end the cycle of poverty and transform our community by empowering families and youth to succeed in education and achieve life-long self-sufficiency. Our YHDP project works with young adults aging out of the foster care system and provides comprehensive services and housing.

INFO@FAMILYSCHOLARHOUSE.ORG | 502-584-8090 FAMILYSCHOLARHOUSE.ORG

Home of the Innocents

Home of the Innocents’ Pathways HOME program provides services to young adults (ages 18-24) experiencing homelessness and their children. We provide direct housing assistance, case management, education and employment coaching, resources like our Dare to Care food bank, and Life Skills classes.

325 BAXTER AVE | LOUISVILLE, KY 40204 | 502-596-1320 HOMEOFTHEINNOCENTS.ORG

Kentucky Youth Career Center

  • Onsite GED program for ages 18 – 24
  • Links to employment opportunities
  • Occupational skills training
  • Workforce education
  • Internship Academy
  • College and employer tours
  • Career and education fairs
  • Workshops
  • Leadership development opportunities
  • Food pantry
  • Opportunity Shop Computer Lab
  • Access to Legal Aid

612 S. 4TH ST. | LOUISVILLE, KY 40202 | 502-574-4115 WEAREKYCC.ORG

St. Vincent de Paul

St. Vincent de Paul Louisville will serve young adults (aged 18-24) and their children in 24 units of transitional housing. Referrals to this housing will be made by the Common Assessment team. For more information, you can call 502-584-2480 or visit our website at svdplou.org.

Our main office is located at 1015-C S. Preston Street, Louisville, KY 40203. 1015-C S. PRESTON ST. | LOUISVILLE, KY 40203 | 502-584-2480 SVDPLOU.ORG

YMCA Safe Place

YMCA Safe Place provides street-based and drop-in center support to young adults 18-24 experiencing homelessness or unstable housing. We offer support for youth by providing access to day-time shelter, hygiene items, showers, a meal, clothing, and laundry as well as support in goal setting, skill development, and accessing community resources through case management, life skills groups, and resource referrals.

Drop in Hours: Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday from 9:00 am to 2:00 pm; Tuesday from 3:00 pm to 8:00 pm.

CHANNAH@YMCALOUISVILLE.ORG | 502-635-4402 YMCALOUISVILLE.ORG

YouthBuild Louisville

YouthBuild Louisville and their partners provide services to low-income, homeless young adults (ages 18-24) including information on LGBTQ-friendly supportive services, education, employment, mental/physical health services, transportation, food, clothing, identification and social security card attainment, and enrollment in insurance. We also provide housing navigation and vouchers, housing case management and life skills development.

INFO@YBLKY.ORG | 502-290-6121 YBLKY.ORG

Number and Rate of Disconnected Youth Increases in Louisville

moa_logo_2016

 

 

Measure of America’s latest report, More Than a Million Reasons for Hope: Youth Disconnection in America Today, updates disconnected youth estimates for the country as a whole, for states, counties, and metro areas, and by gender and race and ethnicity. The report finds that the youth disconnection rate declined in the United States for the sixth year in a row, reaching a low of 11.7 percent in 2016.

However, the disconnection rate in Louisville/Jefferson County has increased from 10.9% (15,200 young people) in 2015 to 13.4% (18,800 young people) in 2016. Disconnection rates vary by gender and race:
  • 13.4% of all youth/young adults are out of school and work
  • 13.9% of male youth/young adults are out of school and work
  • 12.8% of female youth/young adults are out of school and work
  • 27.7% of Black youth/young adults are out of school and work
  • 10.5% of White youth/young adults are out of school and work

Disconnected—or opportunity—youth are young people between the ages of 16 and 24 who are neither working nor in school. This report is the first in Measure of America’s disconnected youth series to compare American and European metro areas, or to examine disconnection by different group characteristics such as motherhood, marriage status, disability, English proficiency, citizenship, educational attainment, institutionalization, and household composition.

Other key findings include:

  • A chasm of nearly 20 percentage points separates the disconnection rates of racial and ethnic groups.
  • An alarmingly high share of disconnected black boys and young men—nearly a fifth—is institutionalized, compared to just 0.3 percent of the overall population in that age group.
  • Disconnected young people are about two-and-a-half times as likely to be living family other than parents, about twice as likely to be living with a roommate, and eight times as likely to be living alone.

To learn more about these and other findings, see the full report. The most recent data on disconnected youth can also be found in our interactive tool.

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.

Youth Experiences Survey: Exploring the Sex Trafficking Experiences of Louisville’s At-Risk Adolescents and Young Adults

The UofL Human Trafficking Research Initiative, developed in 2015, is an interdisciplinary, community-engaged research partnership that includes faculty and graduate students from the University of Louisville, made up of the Kent School of Social Work, the Department of Criminal Justice, the Speed School of Engineering, the School of Medicine, and the Brandeis School of Law. The goal of the Initiative is to be a central source of research on human trafficking to inform the decisions made by those who contact victims, survivors, and perpetrators of human trafficking including law enforcement, prosecutors, educators, medical services, and social services.

How are victims identified?

One of the first aims of the Initiative is to work with community partners to more
effectively identify victims of sex trafficking in our community. It can be difficult to identify victims due to general lack of public awareness, as well as a lack of awareness, or reluctance, of many exploited children to identify themselves as victims. In order to address these challenges and provide targeted services, the Initiative is launching a sex
trafficking prevalence study of youth and young adults who are most at-risk in our
community.

What is the YES study?

Phase 1 of the YES study is currently launching in city of Louisville. The proposed study is based on Arizona’s successful YES prevalence study, which has been updated to include Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) questions. The Kentucky YES study will be conducted in three phases to include homelessness/runaway youth, justice-involved youth, and child welfare-involved. Youth and young adults aged 12-25 will be invited to complete the 10-minute survey, which asks questions about drug/alcohol use, family history, childhood trauma, mental and medical diagnoses, sexual exploitation, and service use. Participants will receive a $5 gift card and a resource guide as part of their participation in the study.

Why initiate this type of study?

The purpose of the study is to determine the prevalence of sex trafficking among youth and young adults in Kentucky and southern Indiana. Preliminary research obtained from
Arizona’s YES (Youth Experiences Survey) found of those surveyed, 35% of homeless
young adults identified as being a sex trafficking victim, with LGBTQ young adults
reporting higher rates of sex trafficking versus non-LGBTQ young adults.

The data from the Kentucky YES study will be published and shared statewide, to assist with the development of targeted, trauma-informed programs, to aid in the development of funding opportunities (e.g., collaborative grant proposals), and to highlight the prevalence of sexual exploitation and sex trafficking of our most vulnerable youth populations.

How can you help?

If you are an organization that serves at-risk young people in the greater Louisville
community, and you are interested in being a potential survey site, please contact:

Dr. Jennifer Middleton
Co-Director of the UofL HTRI
jennifer.s.middleton@gmail.com
Cell: 303-648-1825

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