Strengthening the safety net under homeless teens

Alaska’s largest health insurer, Premera, recently announced a $1 million grant to Covenant House to support its Rapid Rehousing program to move 30 young people ages 18-24 from shelters into permanent housing. This grant and its purpose offers an opportunity to take a closer look at the challenges young people face overcoming homelessness.

The black and white image above is a still taken from a video created by the Youth Task Force in support of Covenant House’s bid for another grant, this time $1 million from the Chan Zuckerberg Communities Thrive Challenge. Watch the full video here. Gogo sings along with Dash’s rapping.

Because of both these efforts, we’ll host the Covenant House executive director Alison Kear, along with formerly homeless and now Task Force members Dash Togi and Gogo. How does a young person slip into homelessness? What are the risks for a teen who is homeless? What obstacles exist for a young person to overcome homelessness? How does mental and physical health play into this picture?

Since 1988, Covenant House Alaska has served over 25,000 youth experiencing homelessness, abuse or sex trafficking. In addition to shelter, Covenant House provides meals, education, counseling and employment services—and unconditional love and respect to every youth brave enough to walk through the shelter doors.

As always, your questions and comments are welcome throughout the program. Join us in this community conversation.

Thanks for listening!