On any given night there are 1.3 million youth living unsupervised on the streets, in cars, in abandoned buildings, or hopping from couch to couch.
One out of seven youth between the ages of 10 and 18 will run away and end up on the streets. Every day, more youth are being kicked out of their homes or leave their homes due to family conflicts or economic issues.
Youth also become homeless when transitioning from a foster home when they have no place to go. Every year, 5,000 of these runaway, throwaway and unaccompanied youth die as a result of assault, illness or suicide.
November is National Runaway Prevention month. In Centre County, we are fortunate to have a runaway and homeless shelter for teens, a transitional living program and a street outreach program that help youth, all run by the Centre County Youth Service Bureau.
All of these programs are readily available to assist our runaway and homeless youth. Youth can access our programs through the shelter on Burrowes Street, through the National Runaway Safeline, or through any of the Safe Place locations in Centre County.
The Safe Place project is a national effort to connect community businesses and organizations to their local homeless and runway youth shelters. There are over 20 Safe Place locations throughout Centre County including CATA buses, the YMCAs and the Centre Region libraries.
While Safe Place sites establish a welcoming atmosphere within the community, they also open their doors to runaway and homeless youth who need help getting to the shelter. The staff at each site are trained to connect youth to the Burrowes Street Youth Haven shelter by calling our local 24-hour hotline at (814) 234-2100.
Help us raise awareness about the issues that runaways and homeless youth face everyday. Put out a green light in support of our youth who may need help. Help us educate our community with solutions to prevent youth from running away from their homes.
When youth are in crisis we need to be able to help them find the resources they may need in their community. When a youth runs away it affects our whole community.
Vanessa Barroner is director of the Burrowes Street Youth Haven, which is a part of the Centre County Youth Service Bureau.
