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BLOOMSBURG, Pa. -- Stability and hope are core values of the Anchor Program at Bloomsburg University, which hopes to help break the cycle of homelessness and poverty that often plagues children aging out of foster care.

The National Youth in Transition Database found that among 21-year-olds from foster care environments surveyed in 2015, 1 in 4 was homeless within the prior two years. Of those who were homeless, 3 in 5 were unemployed and 1 in 3 gave birth or fathered a child in that same time period.

The Anchor Program will serve 40 teens ages 15 to 18 from five counties in central Pennsylvania. The program aims to build independent living skills and introduce higher education foster children living in the Susquehanna River Valley.

Bloomsburg University is tailoring the program to simulate college life, though it will be supervised around the clock.

Participants will go through the move-in experience - meeting roommates and attending orientation. They'll attend workshops on all manner of academic pursuits: creative writing, art, science, seminars on social justice and leadership. Field trips are built into the experience as are after-hours programming like movie night, yoga and ultimate Frisbee.

Everything is free - meals, housing, activities and program materials.

The on-campus experience is part of a multi-year mentorship program designed to disrupt patterns of homelessness and unemployment among teens aging out of foster care.

"BU mentors will partner with the youth throughout the year about topics such as developing academic goals, exploring academic disciplines, researching post-secondary institutions, and navigating financial aid/scholarships," said Rona Anderson, Assistant to the Dean of the College of Liberal Arts, who will coordinate the program.

Incarceration also isn't unusual for those in foster care. The NYTD survey found 37 percent had been incarcerated to some degree by age 17. The numbers dipped with age - 24 percent of 19-year-olds and 20 percent of 21-year-olds reported having been incarcerated within two years.

By age 21, just 5 percent reported having a vocational certificate or license and just 3 percent a college degree.

"We have this idea of what a college student looks like. In the 21st Century, we have to diversify that idea. We're a public institution. We're here to serve the entire population of the region," said James Brown, dean of the College of Liberal Arts. "We have the opportunity here to serve students who maybe never saw themselves as possible college students."

If those teens in foster care choose to attend Bloomsburg University, Brown said they'll be able to live on campus year-round. When other students go home for holidays or summer break, he said there will be programming offered to those who stick around.

Youth homelessness is a problem that many children face after transitioning from care to independent life, according to Youth Fostering Change, an outreach program based in Philadelphia. One of their recommendations for eliminating post-foster care homelessness is for universities to offer summer and holiday housing, like the Anchor Program does.

Rose Weir, administrator, Snyder County, Pennsylvania Children and Youth, was excited when she learned of the program. She said everyone benefits from having a positive mentor at one point in their lives, foster children especially.

"Most people are successful if they have at least one or more adults who support them with their interests," Weir said. "It will help them with goal-setting. No matter the educational opportunities they may want to explore, it will help them for exploration."

Katrina Gownley, administrator, Northumberland County, Pennsylvania Children and Youth, said she looks forward to getting teens registered with the Anchor Program.

"I think it will give them guidance, hope," Gownley said. "I think it would really help give them the confidence they need to go on to higher education."

"It's a difficult age the way it is," Gownley added of the teen years. "Foster living just adds to the stress of it. ... I'm really glad to see (Bloomsburg University) taking the initiative to do something like that."
Scicchitano writes for the Sanbury, Pennsylvania Daily Item.

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Pennsylvania university seeks to reduce homelessness after foster care

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BLOOMSBURG, Pa. -- Stability and hope are core values of the Anchor Program at Bloomsburg University, which hopes to help break the cycle of homelessness and poverty that often plagues children aging out of foster care. The National Youth in Transition Database found that among 21-year-olds from foster care environments surveyed in 2015, 1 in 4 was homeless within the prior two years.

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© 2017 Youth Without Shelter All rights reserved. Website by Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions Web Toaster, a division of BTI Brand Innovations Inc.

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Profile of homeless youth living in Toronto, on what people might find most surprising about them. (Melissa Renwick / Toronto Star)

Every weekday morning a crowd gathers outside a storefront on Yonge St., just north of the Eaton Centre, eager for the door to open so they can get inside.

They're not looking to get their hands on cut-price retail deals or the latest foodie fad offering.

They're homeless youth who have come to the Evergreen Centre for Street Youth looking for a meal, health care and help finding work.

Each day, about 150 youth pass through Evergreen's door, a few blocks from the intersection at Yonge and Dundas, the crossroads of Canada's busiest shopping district. It may also be the epicentre of youth homelessness in this country.
RELATED: Five homeless youth share their stories
On a given night, 6,000 people across Canada between 16 and 24 have nowhere to call home, representing 20 per cent of the total homeless population. In Toronto, estimates range from 900 to 2,000 nightly - far more than can be accommodated by the 489 beds in youth shelters.

Many homeless youth end up on Yonge St., attracted to gathering spots like the Eaton Centre and Yonge-Dundas Square, as well as services such as Evergreen and nearby Covenant House, Canada's largest shelter for street-involved youth.

"Our centre deals with a lot of the extreme cases," says Jesse Sudirgo, manager at Evergreen, who says the drop-in's clients are often dealing with serious mental health or drug addiction issues. Many are involved in sex work. "Prostitution's huge."

In Toronto, as many as 2,000 youth have nowhere to call home at night - far more than can be accommodated by the 489 beds in youth shelters. Joel Zola, 22, is one of them. (Melissa Renwick / Toronto Star) | Order this photo

The paths young people take to life on the street differ, but according to Covenant House, about 70 per cent of the shelter's clients left home because of family dysfunction, which could include abuse, neglect or parents' addictions. Poverty can play a role, but about half of the facility's clients come from middle- and upper-income families, according to the shelter's management.

Many homeless youth are fleeing situations where they felt like outcasts or were bullied. More than one in five youth shelter users identify as LGBTQ, according to the city's Street Needs Assessment.

Sudirgo believes it's easier to get homeless youth on the right path than it is their older counterparts. But the stakes are high. The longer a youth stays in shelters or on the streets, the greater the risk he or she will become homeless for the long term.

"They get entrenched in street life if we let them stay homeless very long, and here in Toronto we've got a big problem," says Stephen Gaetz, the director of the Canadian Observatory on Homelessness and a professor at York University's faculty of education. He notes that homeless youth in the city remain unhoused for an average of 1.5 years, a statistic he calls "horrible."

"It doesn't take very long when someone is street-involved, that their health decreases . . . mental health gets worse, their likelihood of being exploited either in the sex trade or through criminal involvement increases," Gaetz says.

The supports that young homeless people need to keep them off the streets are different from the adult population. Most young people who leave home lack basic life skills that would allow them to rent an apartment, make financial plans, or even cook for themselves. They're not only dealing with a lack of housing, but are also likely facing the loss of family relationships and other social ties that were severed when they left home, and doing so at a time when they're undergoing the turbulent psychological changes that accompany young adulthood.

Covenant House attempts to address all of these issues by offering multiple supports under the same roof, including employment and apprenticeship programs, food and clothing banks, an on-site school and a drop-in centre. The facility has 94 emergency shelter bed spaces, and 31 spots in transitional housing.

Bruce Rivers, Covenant House's executive director, says the shelter's three goals are to provide stabilized housing, access to education and employment, and peace of mind.

"If you do all three of those at the same time, you can make significant progress," he says.

Rivers says he's seen a lot of success stories at Covenant House, particularly in the shelter's Cooking for Life program, which connects youth to apprenticeships in the restaurant sector. Between 60 and 70 per cent of participants end up with a job, according to Rivers.

For all the good work that Covenant House does, Gaetz believes that Canada's supports for homeless youth focus too much on emergency shelters, instead of supplying long-term housing and preventing young people from losing their homes in the first place.

"We can't be picking up the broken bodies at the bottom of the hill forever. At some point we've got to go to the top of the hill and wonder why they're getting pushed off."

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Faces of Toronto's homeless youth | Toronto Star

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Hundreds of young people call Toronto's streets home every night, and while the paths that lead them there may differ, their stories share common themes: broken homes, addict parents and struggles with mental health. The Star brings you some of their stories.

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The Homeless Man VS Homeless Child! (Social Experiment)

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Youth who leave home to work and live independently but become homeless when they are unable to move back home after suffering a financial crisis.

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Residential instability.  20% of homeless youth had been in foster care before they moved to the streets. Police report that 90% of runaways return home within 60 days but the remaining 10% become homeless.

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Youth leave home because of disruptive family conditions that make living on the street seem like a better alternative. Ex: Family breakdown, harsh restrictions, abuse, etc.

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Before
homeless people were older citizens who can not afford education. Now it consists of well-educated young people.