Today we received the preliminary report from Count Us In, a point-in-time count of homeless youth in King County conducted by a group of youth service providers and key community members from across the county with support from the United Way of King County.

776 youth and young adults were counted as homeless or unstably housed on January 24, 2013. This number reflects a more than 10% increase over last year’s count. This year’s effort counted youth in more sites than ever before, and while this expansion could account for some of the increase, it is more likely that we are still just scratching the surface of the scope.  Keep in mind that this is an often invisible population:  Many youth are reluctant to self-identify as homeless, while others avoid traditional youth service providers. 

YouthCare serves homeless youth and young adults 12 through 24 years old – everything from food and shelter to housing and employment training.  The vast majority of the youth we serve find themselve homeless due to circumstances beyond their control:  physical and sexual abuse at home, poverty, kicked out for coming out to their parents.

To learn more and, most importantly, to help support the services that are so vital to our community’s homeless youth, please join us at YouthCare’s 28th Annual Luncheon on Tuesday, March 19th at The Westin Seattle from noon to 1:00.  An hour of your time can make a huge difference in the lives of our community’s young people – now more than ever.