“Paul is committed to building partnerships with private and public organizations to identify systemic innovations and partnerships that support the city of Seattle’s efforts to address homelessness,” says Paul Butler, Program Lead for the Paul G. Allen Homeless Program.
YouthCare is honored to collaborate with Paul on his efforts to end and prevent homelessness in the greater Seattle area. His support builds on YouthCare’s more than forty years of experience helping homeless youth rebuild their lives and discover their potential.
YouthCare’s current emergency shelter for youth, the Adolescent Emergency Shelter, is a crucial piece of our community’s safety net for young people whose lives have been disrupted by family dysfunction, homelessness, mental health challenges, and system gaps. “The best way to stop a life of homelessness is to catch it before it begins,” says Melinda Giovengo, YouthCare’s President and CEO. “Every day a young person spends outside, the longer it takes to pull them back to their potential. Most importantly, the higher the odds they will experience trauma, violence, and a loss of hope. Helping young people quickly stabilize and rebuild ends the pipeline of youth turning in to chronically homeless adults.”
YouthCare is purchasing the building from Ryther, a long-time YouthCare partner in serving homeless youth. The recently remodeled space permits YouthCare to expand shelter capacity to 13 or 14 youth and offer a more therapeutic environment such as private bedrooms, outdoor play space, and an intake area separate from the living space of the house, where youth can arrive and be stabilized before they enter the physical community.
Operating expenses will be covered through existing grants and contracts; YouthCare is working to raise an additional $575,000 to pay off the building and cover start-up costs. YouthCare will be sharing further opportunities to support this important project in the coming months.
For more information, please email info@youthcare.org.