Strengthening the safety net under homeless teens

Still photo taken from the “Streets to Success” video with Gogo and Dash Togi, guests on this edition of Hometown Alaska to discuss youth homelessness in Anchorage. A Youth Task Force created the video to support Covenant House Anchorage’s bid for a Chan Zuckerberg Communities Thrive Challenge. Find a link to the video and to the challenge website in the story below.

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!

 

GUESTS:

  • Alison Kear, executive director, Covenant House
  • Dash Togi, formerly homeless, Youth Task Force member, studying business at UAA, planning to open a Samoan tribal arts shop in Anchorage
  • Gogo, formerly homeless, Youth Task Force member, studying to become a registered nurse at UAA

LINKS:

PARTICIPATE:

  • Call 550-8433 (Anchorage) or 1-888-353-5752 (statewide) during the live broadcast (2:00 – 3:00pm
  • Send e-mail to hometown@alaskapublic.org before, during or after the live broadcast (e-mails may be read on air)
  • Post your comment or question below (comments may be read on air)
  • LIVE: Monday, August 6, 2018 at 2:00 p.m.
  • REPEAT: Monday, August 6, 2018 at 8:00 p.m.
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