Other views: Community neglecting homeless young people
By Erin Campbell
The Forum - 08/09/2003
Recently, I had the opportunity to attend a community briefing addressing the topic of our
area homeless shelters, sponsored by the Fargo/Moorhead Area Foundation. Those presenting
included Marcia Paulson of the YWCA and Gary Groberg of Churches United for the Homeless;
both agencies are providing much needed services in our community and are doing an
exemplary job under less than ideal conditions. The purpose of this briefing was to inform
the public of the ever present and growing need for shelters in this area, as well as how
this need is currently being addressed.
While I found that the briefing did give me adequate information regarding each
shelter’s capital campaigns and the role that the Fargo/Moorhead Area Foundation is
playing in assisting shelters in achieving their goals, I left disappointed. As an active
and interested community member, I was surprised no one made mention of what I see as
perhaps the most pressing and alarming need in our community in terms of the homeless
population: unaccompanied homeless youth.
During the question and answer period, I asked the questions, “Why, when you were
designing your new facilities, did you not include emergency beds for unaccompanied
homeless youth? Furthermore, what are the chances of you accommodating this population in
the future?” The short answer to these questions was “That’s not what we
do,” and “No.”
These answers are unacceptable and discouraging. However, as disturbed as I was, they were
certainly not atypical for our community. In fact, our community currently does nothing to
provide either beds or services to unaccompanied homeless youth (under the age of 18).
There are no shelter beds available to them, nor are there services that cater to their
unique
needs. This should not imply that there is not a population in need in the F-M area that
fits this description. Indeed there is, and like the rest of the nation, the population of
unaccompanied homeless youth is growing in greater Minnesota and rural North Dakota.
The homeless population is hard to track. It is even more difficult to monitor homeless
youth, yet we know that they exist. It would be naïve of us to assume otherwise. Given
that the number of homeless adults and children being served continues to grow, it is
logical to assume that so, too, is the unaccompanied homeless youth population.
Since there are no current statistics on record about how many homeless youth there are,
where they stay, who they are, etc., with the exception of within the school districts,
the homeless youth in the F-M area are, admittedly, hard to define. The Moorhead school
district has tracked nearly 180 youth who have used homeless shelters this year or who
have been without a home for a period of time. Of these youth, over 20 were unaccompanied.
Over the last five years, the Fargo school district has
tracked an average of 210 youth per year who have used homeless shelters at some point.
Unfortunately, even records kept by the school districts are questionable. What makes the
data questionable is that in order to be enrolled in the school district you need a
permanent address. It is probable that there are individuals being left out of these
numbers who had no permanent address to give. In Minnesota, it is estimated that 945
youth, ages 15-20, are homeless each night and are being housed precariously,
unaccompanied by a family member (Wilder Research Center, 2001). On any given night in
Minnesota, 660 unaccompanied youth are without shelter, while over the course of a year an
estimated 10,000 unaccompanied youth in Minnesota experience at least one episode of
homelessness (Minnesota Coalition for the Homeless, 2002).
My question and challenge to the community is this: If the community has stated that they
are concerned about these issues, why isn’t it doing anything to serve a population
that is clearly in dire need of assistance? While we are supporting area shelters that are
expanding to serve a growing homeless population, we are ignoring those not being served
at all. How will we care for youth whose families have thrown them away? What will we do
for youth in our community left vulnerable as a result of rape,
abuse, mental illness or chemical dependency? When are we going to support emergency beds
available to homeless youth in the area shelters, or a “drop-in center” that
would help them get their lives on track?
These are serious questions that need to be carefully investigated if we are to provide
effective services for the growing population of homeless youth. We have the opportunity
to provide services to homeless youth that might serve as models for other rural
Midwestern communities. I propose that our community make emergency shelter beds available
to homeless
youth. It is necessary that we implement a “drop-in center” for homeless and
vulnerable youth where training for education, life skills, employment and housing
assistance are provided. Youth must be empowered and organized to speak out for themselves
as well as social justice issues.
Campbell is a senior at Concordia College and an intern at People Escaping Poverty Project
this summer. She has focused on organizing around the need for services and emergency
shelter for unaccompanied homeless youth in the F-M area.
If you are interested in being part of this collaborative effort, feel that you have
valuable knowledge or skills to add or know of or have contact with homeless youth who may
want to give their input to this project, contact Campbell at: emcampbe@cord.edu or call PEPP at 236-5434.
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