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Youth homelessness in Milwaukee is an invisible, yet dramatic social problem in our city. Milwaukee’s HUD Continuum of Care reports that each night over 400 youth are homeless in Milwaukee. Some find shelter with friends and extended family. Half don’t find the shelter they seek and only 16 emergency beds exist in our community. These youth are very vulnerable and meeting their basic needs is at fundamental risk. Two-thirds will trade sex for food or shelter within three days of living on the streets. The long term consequences in terms of educational achievement, substance abuse, violence, and mental health are staggering.
Confronting this tragic problem must be multi-faceted. More shelter beds are part of the solution, as is street outreach and case management. However, shelter beds are costly. During a recent site visit at Pathfinders homeless youth shelter, federal officials commended the program as a model for the country. Additionally, they recommended that offering a broader range of services would strengthen services dramatically – including a Drop-In Center for day use. Best practices in Chicago and Seattle offer a model for services and support which can be implemented here in Milwaukee. Consequently, Pathfinders, with an initial seed grant from Assurant Health, potential federal funding, and collaboration with several other agencies, is launching a Drop-In Center for homeless youth at 4200 N. Holton in the fall of 2009.
 The Drop-In Center would serve as home base for Street Beat, a joint project of Milwaukee’s two homeless youth programs and the only street outreach program in Milwaukee for homeless youth. The Center would provide day services to the many homeless youth encountered by shelter and outreach staff, including food, hygiene and laundry facilities, health and risk reduction resources, computer access, job supports, and case management. Young people themselves are asking for these services. Recently, Pathfinders conducted a series of interviews to ascertain their unmet needs and priorities. Two hundred thirty (230) homeless and formerly homeless youth were asked about their unmet needs. In order of priority, youth identified the following: job/employment; someone to talk to; transportation assistance; clothing needs; phone access; shelter/housing; medical/dental assistance; basic needs (e.g., food); laundry and shower access; and assistance obtaining vital documents. Providing these services via a specialized Drop In Center will help Milwaukee youth who live on our streets by linking them to dependable, trustworthy, caring adults.
Community partnership is essential to a successful strategy to address youth homelessness. In 2008, Pathfinders – with support of several donors – has launched an innovative awareness campaign regarding teen homelessness (e.g., billboards, life-size replicas, etc.). Fortunately, we have learned that when Milwaukee’s adults hear the scope of this problem, they respond. Your support would supplement the existing commitment from Assurant and encourage other individuals and funders to address the basic needs of homeless youth in our community.
Three major outcomes guide the Drop- In Center and Street Beat street outreach effort:
- To prevent the risk of sexual exploitation of street and homeless youth by providing targeted street based outreach
- To help such youth find safe and stable permanent housing through intensive case management and housing placement
- To assist such youth to develop appropriate independent living skills
Key results and indicators of the Drop-In Center Initiative include:
- 400 total youth will be served annually at drop-in center (50% will qualify as “member youth” by participating in case management activities)
- 100% of youth will receive basic needs assistance (food, hygiene, laundry, clothing, phone access, etc)
- 75% of drop in center member youth will progress toward finding employment with assistance from center staff
- 60% of member youth will improve school status (e.g., attendance, enrollment, etc)
- 75% of member youth will improve their independent living status (e.g., health care access, stabilized housing, etc). In addition, the street outreach team will make 4000 street contacts annually to provide homeless youth with health resources, risk reduction services, and basic needs supports. 75% of these youth will achieve positive changes in one of seven key life domains noted on the Street Beat Evaluation Protocol (e.g., improvement in job situation, reduced alcohol and drug use, etc.)
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