Children are the future, this age old adage states how we should value our youths development and the direct result of which having generational effects on the community. For most of Oregon's youth this means attending school and gradually preparing oneself for adulthood. For the “1590 [homeless] teenagers living on the street unaccompanied” this is not the case as the burden of adulthood is foisted onto them as early as age 16 years old. In the U.S. Oregon’s ranks the highest in youth and teenage homeless, many believing that “foster care placements have some correlation.”. According to Kid Counter, an organization by the Annie E. Casey foundation,overcrowding in Oregon’s foster care has increased to “15%” resulting in 3000 teenagers in inadequate housing. A person can infer that some of these youth have decided to live on their own rather than in the cramped public housing. While foster care teens do have the benefit of shelter once they age out of carre they have to become completely self-reliant overnight. For the homeless youth life is even more difficult as they are not of working age and rely exclusively on school or shelters for all of their primary care. In either case the care is limited and only available for a brief time until both enter the real world without any kind of support in place. Organizations such as New Avenues help plan for both life transitions and have adopted a non-judgemental acceptance of all lifestyles. New Avenues allows any youth aged 16-24 to use their drop by service which includes basic necessities like laundry service and pet care to more elboartate job training and therapy services. These services are free and they are meant to act as a bridge to self-dependence that many were never afforded before. New Avenues housing program New Doors goes beyond providing basic necessities by covering housing for its residents in exchange for completing 30 hours of work or school a week. Programs such as these are life changing as residents have time to focus on improving their lives and less time worrying about if rent will be paid this month. While New Avenues work is life changing there is only so much they can accomplish on their own, the systemic issue comes from a lack of foster care housing. New Avenues and foster care organizations urge anyone with the ability and time to volunteer for foster parenting as the need is dire. While organizations such as New Avenue’s offer transition housing for the later years in life, the formative years for homeless youth are still in danger. Finding homes for these youth is necessary for a brighter future for all Oregonians, help by donating, volunteering and for those willing to start a new chapter in a youth’s life today.
By Nick Garza
Getting Involved
https://newavenues.org/get-involved
Work Cited
https://www.usich.gov/homelessness-statistics/or/
https://pamplinmedia.com/pt/9-news/403002-299906-oregon-ranks-first-for-homeless-youth
https://datacenter.kidscount.org/data/tables/67-children-living-in-crowded-housing?loc=39&loct=2#detailed/3/86/false/37,871,870,573,869,36,868,867,133,38/any/368,369
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