www.streetworksmn.org/

StreetWorks is a collaborative of 13 separate agencies providing coordinated street-based outreach to homeless and runaway youth in the Twin Cities metropolitan area. Contrary to myths and stereotypes homeless youth exist in many Minnesotan communities, including suburban communities.



StreetWorks Collaborative employs a team of 30 outreach workers to meet the immediate needs of homeless and runaway youth by providing food and other basic necessities, and to connect youth with housing and services which they might not otherwise access. The goals of StreetWorks’ outreach are to promote the health and safety of street youth, and to assist them in achieving their potential. Our outreach team is a group of “safe adults” who believe that in order to intervene in the lives of vulnerable and exploited youth, it is first necessary to build trusting relationships. Our collaborative structure allows street-workers access to a broad spectrum of shelter, housing, and supportive services for youth in need. Since our establishment in 1994, we have provided intensive supportive services to over 4,400 at-risk youth. In 2002, StreetWorks assisted 1,290 youth through one-to-one case management and connected 274 youth with shelter and housing.



In 2000, the Wilder Research Center’s statewide survey reported that on any given night 660 youth were homeless and needing shelter. The Wilder survey also noted some disturbing trends: (1) youth are becoming homeless for the first time at a younger age, at an average age of 13 and 14 years of age, (2) many youth have had previous “out-of-home” placements, with 41% reporting previous placement in foster care, 46% reporting previous placements in correctional facilities, and 13% reporting previous placements in treatment facilities for chemical or alcohol dependency; and (3) a quarter of all homeless youth report that they have engaged in survival sex to meet their basic needs.



Although our outreach team served nearly 1,300 youth last year, the Twin Cities metropolitan area has only 73 emergency bed spaces for youth. The lack of adequate shelter, supportive services, and affordable housing for young adults is an incredible barrier to our goal of providing safety and stability to our youth participants!



In reporting on the issue of homeless youth, we hope you will recognize that these are not “out-of-control” youth who run from their homes because they want to thwart the authority of their parents. Most youth are running from physical abuse, sexual abuse, chronic abuse, or severe and threatening conflict with parents and families.



All Collaborative member agencies recognize that youth require the assistance of a trustworthy adult to navigate the myriad social service and public agencies providing basic needs, and educational and employment services and assistance. Without consistent outreach, many youth will remain unable or unwilling to receive supportive services.



StreetWorks serves as the “conveyor belt” to get youth off the streets and into programs that provide opportunities for youth development and self-sufficiency through educational or employment opportunities and life skills. Our teams are found out on the streets every day in some of our community’s most disenfranchised and economically disadvantaged neighborhoods.



During outreach we provide youth with food, clothing, and personal hygiene items needed for survival on the streets. All our outreach workers carry large green back packs filled with supplies handed out during our outreach. In order to respond to crisis, most of our outreach workers carry cellphones. This allows the workers to facilitate immediate communication with law enforcement, medical centers, shelters, and treatment centers. However, StreetWorks always recognizes the developmental needs of youth and the importance of connecting youth not only to basic needs by educational, vocational, and employment services. In 2002 alone our team assisted over 221 youth connect with educational or employment opportunities that they may never have accessed but for our intervention and advocacy.



The StreetWorks outreach team identifies particular neighborhoods, public spaces, and community centers where youth congregate. Our outreach methodology includes a concerted attempt to build relationships with community members, local businesses, and neighborhood groups in order to provide youth with support within their communities. A majority of our youth are youth of color who experience poverty and racism. Additionally, in the past few years our client database has noted an increase in the number of teenage parents and youth presenting with chemical dependency, mental health disabilities or a dual diagnosis.



StreetWorks is a program of Freeport West, Inc., however, StreetWorks also combines the resources of thirteen additional and distinct nonprofit organizations. Along with Freeport West (Project SOLO), the StreetWorks collaborative includes: American Red Cross (Minneapolis Chapter), Lutheran Social Services (Homeless Youth Programs), The Bridge for Runaway Youth, Catholic Charities (Hope Street Shelter), YouthLink (Project OffStreets), District 202, YMCA – Point Northwest, Hennepin County’s Red Door Clinic, Breaking Free, Phillips United Neighborhood Services (Brian Coyle Center), Hmong Minnesota Pacific Association, and Face to Face (SafeZone). StreetWorks does not receive direct support from the Greater Twin Cities United Way.

www.mnhomelesscoalition.org/

mnrunawayandhomelessyouthact.com

The Issue
Young people are being left out in the cold.

Each year there is an estimated 22,410 runaway and homeless youth in Minnesota, an estimate based on the 2003 Homeless Survey conducted by Wilder Research as a snapshot of the state’s homeless population.

We are not meeting the needs of youth. Youth are being turned away from shelter every night. In the month of December 2006, 156 young people were reported as being turned away from shelter beds in the Metro area alone!

Wild Geese

You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting--
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.

© Mary Oliver