My Summer At St. Louis, Missouri, Where I Interned At Epworth Children And Family Services

the first point of entry in the local homeless social service system. The ARCH is

housing for homeless young adults, many of whom have aged out of foster care. It serves

A Chance is a program designed to take in the homeless youth of Riverside, Ohio and give them a second chance. Our goal is to show the youth living in poverty that they live in a caring neighborhood with adults who are here to help them. A Chance program also strives to embed the youth with community values, adult role models, high expectations, commitment to learning, positive values, and positive identity, all of which are assets that will help the youth to reach their full potential (Fisher, 2008). Many times we tend to neglect the poor within our community but with the poverty rates rising we need to make a change and provide an opportunity for them to better their life and to get out of the cycle of poverty.

The DC Promise Neighborhood Initiative (DCPNI) draws upon promising practices from a national body of work that suggest that dual-generation programming is an effective strategy for breaking the cycle of poverty. Specifically, two-generation strategies that suggest integrating education, employment opportunities, and peer support for parents and academic and support services for their children will produce far more promising outcomes for both the parents and their child.

In the first step of establishing a plan for impoverished children residing in section 8 communities housing would be to identify the problem. In order to understand a plan that needs to be made for the human rights and social and economic justice for these individuals, there must be an understanding of what aspect of their rights and justice is not already being met by society. After establishing what is the problem, having an understanding of why it’s a problem helps better set up the next step of collecting information on that issue and coming to a conclusion of how it happened to gain a better angle of how to solve it. In order to have an effective advocacy plan, we need to do research on finding out what is not being offered to them that is being offered to other children that are not residing in impoverished section 8 housing. If better and

Society generalizes first world teenagers, describing them as trapped inside a bubble, shielded from harsh realities of impoverished nations and living with the delusions that their problems dominate all others. While this stereotype does not hold true for all young adults, the unfortunate truth remains: many do not count their blessings. Recently with our soccer team, we had the opportunity to visit Vista Maria, a home and school in Dearborn for girls ages 11 to 17 coming from abusive domestic environments, including sex trafficking and family deficiencies. Interacting with the bright and beautiful girls felt incredible and encouraged us and the team to truly understand how fortunate we live. This trip inspired us to plan on visiting Vista

Gerry Oliver is a 17-year-old high school student who attends Satec Wa porter in Peterborough, Ontario. Gerry is an orphan who immigrated from Nigeria and worked at McDonald's to pay for his daily expenses. Unfortunately, he lost the job and was left homeless. He wrote an open letter to contact the mayor Daryl Bennet and requested to get a job as a football coach at one of the city parks. Gerry Oliver story became a viral sensation and Daryl Bennet personally reached out to Gerry. There was no job position available at city parks but he recommended Gerry apply for the social assistance program. Additionally, he informed Gerry about The L.O.F.T program in which student ages 13-17 can come to open space designed for recreation and fun for teen

Family Promise of Summit County is an emergency hope center for homeless families with children. Family Promise began in 2004 when community leaders saw the desperate need for families with children to find a shelter where they could stay together. These leaders set to work by researching the necessary human and financial resources to create the Interfaith Hospitality Network, now Family Promise of Summit County. While many programs must separate children from their families during a homeless crisis, their mission is to help families with children stay together while they achieve sustainable independence (Family Promise of Summit County). Their vision is as follows: “To Keep Families Together, to alleviate the trauma of homelessness and assist families in securing a stable home environment” (Family Promise of Summit County).

The agency I am doing my internship at is SEK-CAP CHOICES Head Start here in Pittsburg, Kansas. I am following a family service worker who works with families to reach their individual potential for self-sufficiency. In this paper I will talk about the history, the structure and support, direct services, and cultural awareness of SEK-CAP CHOICES.

At eleven-years-old, my world was turned upside when I first volunteered at the Manna Soup Kitchen and became aware of the substantial issue of homeless youth. While serving the beautiful food I helped prepare, I recognized one of my best friends who I volunteered in the Southwest Conservation Corp with as she waited in line with no parent in sight. After eating her meal, she went into the thick woods behind the kitchen where she still continues to live. Curiously, I followed her and witnessed the horrific reality of homeless youth for all she had was a tent and a blanket in below freezing weather. The matter of homeless youth carries great importance with me because it affects the lives of a substantial amount of my friends and peers.

Memphis does not currently have any youth drop-in centers, LGBTQ or otherwise. A drop-in center is a place where someone can come in and get connected to various resource that they might need that is specific to that person. Housing and Urban Development Center is such a drop-in center for adults where they undergo an intake and are then referred to services that will specifically suit that person’s needs, but youth have very different needs than adults. So, Reyes is planning such a space, to allow them that transition time, to get them help before they learn those survival methods and become chronically homeless. The Youth Emergency Center will be that space for anyone 25 and younger. It will be the hub for all the current youth emergency

One example of a shelter, in the Fayetteville area, that offers services to homeless adolescents under the age of eighteen is the Cumberland Interfaith Hospitality Network. This shelter is identified, on the Fayetteville NC website, as one that provides services for homeless families. (Cumberland Interfaith Hospitality Network, 2013). As an example, the services provided, at this shelter, include: overnight accommodations at their churches, dinner, breakfast and a packed lunch, referrals to employment, direct assistance with household furnishings, basic need items, and financial assistance”( Cumberland Interfaith Hospitality Network,2013). The providers of services at this shelter appear to have the capability of incorporating the same services to treat homeless adolescents.

When first prompted with the assignment to volunteer 20 hours of my time somewhere off the University of Minnesota’s campus, I was quite stressed out because of the time commitment. However, as I was reading through the list of possible locations to volunteer one particular place grabbed my attention and made me feel as though it would not be as terrible of an experience that I assumed it would be for me. The name of this place was Waite House and thankfully it is currently the organization where I am engaging in my service-learning. Waite House is located in the Ventura Village neighborhood within the Phillips community in Minneapolis. Waite House caught my attention because not only was it a relatively short commute on the public transit system, but the description mentioned youth fitness and obesity/diabetes prevention. Not only am I educated in diabetes prevention, but I also have previous experience with fitness and working with youth. So, I applied to this organization because I felt as though Waite House would be the perfect placement for me.

The ethical fiber continues with Reyes’ collaborative effort with Kelly Cole from Community Alliance Homes to found Youth Housing Membership board that meets monthly. It’s member are comprised of all the different organizations that deal with youth homelessness in Memphis. This is so that these conversations across organizations can continue to happen so everyone involved know what others are doing. This reduces redundancy and makes the entire system more effective for the people they are trying to serve. Included on this board is also a youth advisory position reserved for someone 18-25 who has experienced homelessness, so that they can receive real advice and feedback from someone who has the perspective of the people they are trying to

Homelessness Youth Services in Barwon Youth Southwest Region – specifically the Youth Entry Point workers and management, who are primarily involved in undertaking specialist assessments to gain a greater understanding of the young person’s current housing situation, who explore barriers such as Alcohol and Other Drugs (AOD), Mental Health or Family Violence concerns etc.