Boys & Girls Town Program for Homeless Youth Expands
Agency Receives $100,000 Grant from US Department of Health & Human Services
Springfield, Mo. (September 30, 2009) – U.S. Department of Health & Human Services has awarded a three-year grant to Boys & Girls Town of Missouri to continue providing services to homeless youth, ages 10 to 18, in the Springfield area.
Boys & Girls Town’s Empowering Youth program has been offered through the Ozarks Family Resource Center on the Boys & Girls Town campus in Springfield since 2006. The program provides food, clothing, shelter, education, life skills and job training in a safe environment with counseling and supportive adults for homeless youth ages 10 to 18.
In the first three years of the program, Boys & Girls Town provided emergency shelter and services to 112 youth. Of these, 98 percent have exited the program to live in a safe and stable environment such as home, transitional living on their own, or with friends and family.
Program goals for the next three years are to increase the number served, to add in-home prevention and intervention services; and expand from Greene, Christian and Taney counties to outlying counties.
“We are thrilled to continue providing this vital program as the issue of homelessness continues to grow in our region,” said Chip Wolf, vice president of Boys & Girls Town’s Southwest Region. “Since 2007, a number of Springfield agencies and organizations have joined together to provide homeless youth with services and resources they need to transition to safe and stable homes. This funding will enable us to work with our partners to provide alternatives for teens facing homelessness.”
In 2008, the National Runaway Switchboard received 268 crisis calls from area code 417 and a total of 2,562 calls from Missouri.
NRS has compiled these risk factors associated with running away.
- Physical or sexual abuse at home or fear of abuse upon return.
- Youth’s substance dependency.
- Inability to find overnight shelter results in overnights outside, in a park, on the street, under a bridge or overhang, or on a rooftop.
- Trading sex for money, food, shelter, or drugs.
- Attempted suicide
- Past pregnancy
- Dropping out of school, having been expelled, or having been suspended.
Boys & Girls Town of Missouri partners with these area groups and agencies to help homeless youth: Rare Breed Transitional Living Program; Rare Breed Youth Outreach Center; Community Partnership of the Ozarks; Job Corps, The Kitchen INC; Missouri Career Center; Missouri Mentoring Partnership; Missouri State University; Ozarks Counseling Center; Pregnancy Care Center; Safe Place; Salvation Army; Springfield Public Schools; The Victim Center, Victory Missouri. |
Columbia Region
