Y.O.U. Awarded $450,000 For Street Outreach

We are thrilled to announce that Y.O.U. was awarded a 3-year Street Outreach Program grant totaling $450,000 from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Federal Youth Services Bureau. This funding will support outreach services, a drop-in center, and access to shelter within a positive youth development framework for runaway, homeless, and housing insecure youth and young adults in Evanston and Skokie.

The Street Outreach Program enables organizations around the country to help transition young people out of homelessness and into safe shelter. Y.O.U. will use this funding to continue providing prevention and intervention services to youth 21 years of age and under. In partnership with the City of Evanston’s Youth & Young Adult Division, we will conduct street-based outreach services, including the operation of a drop-in center at Robert Crown Community Center. Through our 24/7 crisis hotline, we will connect youth experiencing a housing-related crisis with access to shelter. Drawing on our partnerships with a wide variety of community-based organizations, we will also connect youth in need of additional supports to services including health care, substance use treatment, mental health counseling, employment services, sexual assault services, and legal services.

Y.O.U. has more than four decades of experience successfully serving runaway and homeless youth, and the City of Evanston has been a core partner of this work for over 12 years. Over the course of our most recent Street Outreach Program grant cycle, we contacted over 2,200 runaway and homeless youth and distributed over 18,000 basic need supplies to them. We also engaged 100% of youth in temporary shelter in counseling and connected more than 1,800 runaway and homeless youth to additional services through community partnerships.

Since 1971, Y.O.U. has provided youth with identity-affirming relationships, resources to meet emerging needs, and expanded learning opportunities, so that they are supported in designing their own paths to success and bringing about the changes they want to see in the world. We are grateful for the opportunity to continue serving as a key resource for runaway, homeless, and housing insecure youth and young adults.