It boils down to helping homeless youth not only survive, but thrive.
It’s one thing to provide a homeless young person with a roof over her head. It’s another thing to teach that person how to successfully maintain a stable home so she can focus on her goals and improve her life. The TLP program helps transition-age youth, ages 17-21, develop essential life skills that will serve them well beyond their time in the program.
Getting Angel and Marcus “Home”
Traditionally, the TLP program works with individual young men or women. Some of them have children of their own. But when we met Angel, our program had the unique opportunity to help support an entire young family.
Angel was a good student with a lot of potential. But due to her mom’s mental health issues, she frequently found herself out of the home without a place to stay. Then Angel became pregnant. Between trying to parent her daughter and find a stable place to live, Angel’s school attendance began to suffer. Her high school counselor took notice and contacted Huck House.
The Huck House TLP team connected with Angel and her boyfriend, Marcus, when they were living in the family shelter, desperately trying to find a way to care for their infant son. When the family entered the TLP program, the young couple received the support they needed to flourish. With a safe place to stay, they were able to care for their son and focus on their individual goals at the same time. Both Angel and Marcus were committed to giving their son a better start in life than what they had experienced. And so, with their team’s support, they worked hard to set and achieve goals. Ultimately, Marcus was able to secure a well-paying, full-time job while Angel finished high school.
As Angel and Marcus prepared to finish the program, their TLP team helped the young family secure permanent low-income housing. Marcus will continue to work while Angel attends Columbus State. The couple is using the skills gained in the program to parent their son and maintain a secure and healthy home for him and themselves.
“Angel and Marcus are amazing young people with a true desire to improve their futures and break the cycle of generational poverty for their own child,” says Amanda Glauer, LSW, TLP Team Leader. “The TLP program provided the guidance and support they needed to learn how to make it on their own. Now, instead of a young family on the streets or in a shelter, they’re living independently and thriving. They just needed the opportunity to make that happen.”
