By JENNIKA INGRAM | Reporter
The Pacific Palisades Task Force on Homelessness hosted its second virtual Zoom meeting for the community on September 21, focusing on “Homeless Youth: Hidden in Plain Sight.”
“We chose this tonight really in response to the community,” PPTFH Co-President Sharon Browning shared at the meeting. “In terms of the task force, we do not see a lot of children and youth. We have worked with a few families and those have been very positive experiences for us, but generally, we see an older population.”
Guest speakers for the evening were Tammy Wood, senior parent community facilitator of the Los Angeles Unified School District Homeless Education Office, and Rachel Stitch, deputy director of Safe Place for Youth, which provides on the ground services for homeless youth up to 25 years old.
“Tonight’s program is really in response to all of the questions and requests that you have made of us to have this topic to drill down into it a little bit,” Browning continued.
Wood explained her role is to find youths who are experiencing homelessness in Los Angeles that are attending school. She shared that she has found there are upward of 13,000 students, with the average age of 7 years old.
“The services that we provide are really important,” Wood explained. “They are important for those children so that we can make a difference in their life and hopefully break the cycle of homelessness.”
The LAUSD Homeless Education Office is a small operation of 28 people covering more than 1,000 LAUSD schools.
“The need is huge, as we try and provide support to these families,” Wood shared.
To help meet those needs, every LAUSD school has a homeless liaison. There is a federal law that has evolved to be called Every Student Succeeds Act: Any student age 0 to 22 that lacks a fixed, adequate or regular nighttime residence should still be able to access public school.
According to the law, the definition of a fixed home is a stationary home, adequate means enough rooms for the family, and regular means that family can come and go as they please.
Homelessness includes those in situations like a back house, with a cord coming from the house, youths who sleep at friends’ houses on the couch, and other variations of living by carrying a backpack. If students are in the foster program, they are not considered homeless.
Venice-based Safe Place for Youth provided support to more than 1,300 homeless transition-age youth up to age 25 in 2018. Pre-COVID-19, the center saw up to 100 people per day.
SPY helps over 1,536 youth annually, has housed 216 youths, found employment for 105, and enrolled 74 youths in high school, community college, or trade programs.
The 2020 Homeless Count showed that there are almost 5,000 youths experiencing homelessness in LA, but Stitch shared SPY doesn’t consider this accurate, since many people are considered “hidden” with couch surfing and other methods.
“Institutional racism really is at the cause of the reasons why a young person might become homeless,” Stitch said. “We overwhelmingly see people of color as the young people we serve at SPY.”
Stitch cited poverty, lack of education and lack of healthcare as some of the causes. Additionally, there are familial circumstances, such as fleeing from neglect or not being accepted for their sexual identity. There are also system failures in the foster care system.
“If you are a young person experiencing the foster care system nationally,” Stitch said, “you have a 60% chance of becoming homeless.”
Part of the program that Wood runs is allowing families who sign up to request one household gift for the holiday season. If Palisadian families want to help sponsor a family, Wood shared, this year, they might be doing gift cards instead of gifts.
“The number one item we always get back is hygiene items,” Wood said of what students request, specifically items like shampoo, toilet paper and deodorant.
For those who want to support SPY, there are opportunities to donate, volunteer, advocate, host, partner, attend SPY events, sign up for a newsletter and spread the word.
The next PPTFH meeting is slated for Monday, November 16, at 7 p.m.
For more information, email tammy.wood@lausd.net or rachel@safeplaceforyouth.org.
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