II. 2010 Annual Report: Continuum of Care
For nearly 40 years, YouthCare has provided comprehensive services to our community’s homeless young people. In 2010, we formalized this approach in the “continuum of care” model we employ today. Our diversity of programs allows us to wrap young people in services – whether their needs are housing, getting back to school or work, or simply a clean pair of socks.
Engage
Surging demand for services at the James W. Ray Orion Center
In 2010, demand for YouthCare’s drop-in and outreach services continued to skyrocket, with over 4,500 youth accessing the James W. Ray Orion Center, a 19% increase over 2009 and a more than 100% increase from 2008. We connect this increase in demand to the continued economic crisis – stressed families break, and broken families do not heal overnight. In 2010, we saw many young people whose families just couldn’t afford to keep them – perhaps because they were doubling up with relatives or could not find space in family shelters.
Opening the Young Adult Shelter at the James W. Ray Orion Center
In January 2010, thanks to a grant from the Raynier Institute & Foundation, we opened the Young Adult Shelter at the Orion Center, one of only two young adult shelters in Seattle providing emergency stabilization and case management to homeless youth ages 18–24. The 15-bed shelter, which is open seven nights a week, allows youth to stay up to 30 days and provides intensive services to help them find safe, supportive housing.
From shelter to stability
In 2010, 280 young adults ages 18-24 stayed at the Young Adult Shelter. Ninety were able to leave the shelter and get into permanent or transitional housing, or be reunited with family members.
In the past year, YouthCare’s Adolescent Shelter provided emergency housing and stabilization to 115 unduplicated youth ages 12-18 and reunited 32 young people with their families. In all, 70 percent of the youth who came to the Adolescent Shelter exited to a safe place, including family reunification, group homes, treatment facilities, foster homes, or other shelter programs.
Stabilize
Transitional Living Programs
In 2010, our transitional and independent housing programs served 142 young people, helping them build life skills, find and maintain employment, and learn how to live as healthy, independent adults.
Helping high-risk youth with low-barrier housing
In the spring of 2009, a grant from the Raynier Institute and Foundation allowed us to open Catalyst at Straley House, YouthCare’s solution for clients who may have difficulty qualifying for other transitional living programs. Catalyst is designed to stabilize young people ages 18 - 24 who face the greatest barriers to recovery, including mental illness and/or chemical dependency. In 2010, Catalyst served 48 young people, helping them on the road to independence. Programs like Catalyst are a rarity, but they are key to helping youth in the gravest danger — and to stemming the tide of adult homelessness.
Prepare
YouthBuild builds houses and leaders
In January 2010, YouthCare launched YouthBuild, a local instance of a highly regarded national program that trains homeless and low-income young people in valuable construction skills. Over the course of six months, participants spend half of every day in the classroom, pursuing GEDs, and half in hands-on construction training. In partnership with Habitat for Humanity, they give back to the community, helping to build low-income housing. Upon completion, they will have earned up to eight separate industry certifications, enhancing their employment prospects and strengthening their confidence as self-sufficient citizens. In 2010, 30 young people benefited from this program; 2011 is on track to serve double that number.
Employment training programs put youth on track for success
- In 2010, 24 young people completed the Tile Project, a low-barrier pre-employment training program teaching ceramics and job skills.
- Twenty-nine youth completed the Barista Training and Education Program in partnership with Farestart.
- Twenty-one young people completed the rigorous 12-week YouthTech program, learning computer hardware and software skills and earning Cisco certification.
Investment in education programs pays off
In 2008, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation began a three year investment in the education of homeless youth. We are pleased to report that at the end of 2010 (the sunset of this generous seed funding), our outcomes exceeded our wildest expectations. In 2007, our education programs served 100 youth. By the end of 2010, that number had jumped to 416. During the same period, 128 youth obtained their GED or high school diploma, and 145 young people enrolled in post-secondary education. Additionally, in 2010, we held our 1st Annual College Fair, with 15 colleges and over 60 youth participating.
The Bridge Program
In May 2010, we partnered with the City of Seattle to launch The Bridge Program, a comprehensive recovery program for sexually exploited children (girls and boys, ages 12–17). Recent reports find that there are between 300 and 500 prostituted minors in King County today, some as young as 11 years old. Through this project — one of a small handful of its kind in the country — we are developing a best-practices model for rescuing these young people and beginning to undo the effects of their horrendous victimization.
