Shelterforce: Homelessness and Young Adults

Posted by on November 8, 2002

[originally posted to Comm-Org]

From: Miriam Axel-Lute

New from Shelterforce…
(http://www.nhi.org/online/issues/sf125.html)

The Young and the Homeless
If you?re a teenager in foster care, coming of age means growing up ? fast. When you turn 18 (or 21 in some states), you have officially ?aged-out? of the foster care system. It?s suddenly your responsibility to find a job and a place to live, and to make sure all your bills are paid on time. But without the financial and emotional resources that usually accompany a stable family life, many former foster youth find themselves on the street. In fact, a large percentage of homeless adults have passed through the foster care system.

What?s being done to make sure the current generation of teenagers on the verge of emancipation from foster care don?t end up homeless, too?

In the current issue of Shelterforce (http://www.nhi.org/online/issues/sf125.html), Kendra Hurley introduces you to some of the child advocates, organizations and programs that are providing answers to that question. Young people also weigh in about ?feeling safe in the real world,? and you?ll discover how Rosanne Haggerty, recipient of a 2001 ?genius grant? from the MacArthur Foundation, found inspiration in Belfast, Ireland for a housing program that provides services designed especially to help foster care youth make the transition to adulthood.

>From housing to job training to coaching in independent living skills, these are solutions that are making a difference in the lives of young people.

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Also in this issue: The Conundrum of Community Development. The story of Hope CDC in East Harlem embodies the on-going tension in community development between people-based and neighborhood-based strategies. Matt Pacenza explores Hope’s history and plans, and Ellen Lazar of the Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation and Brad Lander of the Fifth Avenue Committee respond.

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Miriam Axel-Lute
miriam@nhi.org Webmaster
917-521-9677
Shelterforce Magazine
http://www.nhi.org
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