If you need help, and you can’t come to Huck House, Huck House can come to you. We make an effort to be available in schools, at community centers and shopping centers, on playgrounds, and other places you hang out. Our goal is to connect with you and let you know about the support that’s available in the community to help you with your housing, education,employment, and other needs. We also help you discover your own resources, and we work on removing barriers that stand in the way of reaching your goals and taking charge of your life. And we do it on your turf and your terms.
What you can expect from the Youth Outreach Program:
- Someone who is non-judgmental to talk to about the issues you’re facing
- Advice for building life skills and dealing with problems
- Connections to useful community resources that can help you become more self sufficient
- An ally to help with finding a job, getting your diploma, or securing an apartment
- Help with transportation to reach your goals
- Help obtaining documents like an ID or birth certificate
- Food, health, and hygiene items
- Invitations to fun community and school events and workshops that can help you build useful skills
Our goal is to get you connected.
No matter what type of challenges you face, if you want to improve your situation, help is available. And we can help you find it – in the community and within yourself. Our goal is to connect you with services and support that can get you from where you are in life right now, to where you want to be.
We can help link you to safe housing.
The Youth Outreach Program does not have immediate housing available. But we can help you find and explore your safe housing options.
We can work with you as much or as little as you want.
If you just need a link to another community resource or help with getting your ID, we can provide that. But we can also work with you on an ongoing basis to help you address some of the challenges in your life and develop skills that can help you improve your situation. We can open a case for you and get you connected to an individual caseworker who will meet with you on a regular basis, when and where you want, to continue working toward your goals.
We can get you bus passes to help with reaching your goals.
If you’re working hard to achieve your goals, and you need help with transportation to get to work, to school, or to appointments, we can provide bus passes.
We build relationships with the organizations and providers that are available to help you.
One of the key roles of the Youth Outreach Program is to work with the community providers who serve young people. Just as we make youth aware of these services, we help make service providers more aware of the types of issues that challenge young people so they can more effectively address their needs.
Meet Trinity, a Youth in the Huck House Youth Outreach Program
Trinity connected with a Youth Outreach Counselor in the summer of 2016. Kyra Crockett Hodge, Youth Outreach Program Team Leader, shared her story.
What was Trinity’s childhood like?
Trinity was adopted when she was very young. When she was 10 years old, her adoptive mother passed away. The death put a lot of stress on the family, and Trinity, who never quite felt like she belonged in the family, was having a hard time getting along with her adoptive siblings. She left the adoptive home when she was 16 and entered a housing program through Franklin County Childrens Services.
What was Trinity’s situation when you met her?
When Trinity turned 18, she aged out of the FCCS program. She happened to find her biological parents on Facebook, and they agreed to take her in until she could find a place of her own. However, Trinity’s parents had a long history of drug abuse. They had seven other children living in the house. Trinity had worked and saved money during her time in the transitional housing program, and her parents took her savings, but gave her nothing in terms of support in return. When we met Trinity, her money was gone. But she was determined not to let her circumstances get the best of her. She was on a waiting list for low-income housing, but she was having a hard time navigating the complexities of the system.
How did the Youth Outreach Program help?
We opened up a case for Trinity and paired her with a Youth Outreach worker who became her advocate in her pursuit for housing. Our worker went to the housing meetings with Trinity. We helped her understand the program requirements, get her ducks in a row, and take the necessary steps to expedite the process and successfully secure an apartment of her own. We helped Trinity find a job. And by showing her which community resources she could lean on, we helped her get set up in her new home and obtain the clothing, food, and household items she needed to start her new life.
How is Trinity doing today?
Trinity is living in her own place and working to support herself. Having a Youth Outreach worker she could turn to and trust for guidance and support while getting herself established was key. Trinity now has her life on track and is well on her way to being self sufficient.
Is the Youth Outreach Program still involved with Trinity?
We closed Trinity’s case. But we continue to check in on her from time to time. Trinity knows that she can always call her Youth Outreach worker for advice or support if she runs into a snag or needs help with a difficult situation. We’re here to help her keep her life moving in the direction she wants.
