THE UNWANTEDHelping Utah’s Homeless Youth

The Fact is…• It’s been estimated that there are between 7,000

and 21,000 homeless youth (ages 16-25) in Utah.• Nationwide, 1 in 8 teens will leave home before the

age of 18. 40% will never return home.• Every year in the United States, 5,000 street-bound

youth die of physical assault, illness, or suicide.

Life on the Streets Easy targets for rape and physical assault Often resort to “survival sex” STI’s are rampant and usually go untreated Teens who live in shelters are homeless for an

average of 4 months. Teens who do not get help from shelters stay

homeless for an average of 4 years

Reasons for Teen Homelessness

40% are GLBT Kicked out for delinquency Ran away because of abuse Aging out of foster care

http://uthomelessyouth.wordpress.com/

Just Imagine… What if it was your son? What if it was your daughter? What if it was your niece? What if it was your nephew?

The illness is spreading like wildfire

We must take off our rose-colored glasses, look this beast in the eye and refuse to back down.

Only then can we stand up and defend not only the current victims of learned criminal behavior, but all the future teens that stand at risk to fall into its trap.

Every Day a homeless teen will make a choice…

To find help To get an education To fight for a better life

OR To have unprotected sex for money To look for “Family” in gangs and drug

communities

We have an opportunity 2,973 people died in the tragedy on September

11,2001. How many family members would have saved them given the chance?

We have a temporary chance to give 21,000 homeless youth an opportunity those victims never had. A second chance.

Try Family Counseling. If unsuccessful, other options would be to stay with relatives or foster care.

Solutions:

Train youth to go out on the street with outreach workers to convince them to enter the system

Working towards Independent Housing

From this

To this:

Seeking Benefits

Social Security Income Medicaid

For those with a mental health issues, Alliance House offers educational and vocational support

Homeless Youth Supply Drive

You can drop off the following items: deodorant, bus tokens, canned food, gently used clothing, fast food gift cards, new socks, batteries, tents, tarps, sleeping bags.

Items will be taken to The Homeless Youth Drop In Center @ 655 S. StateDrop off boxes will be located at various places at South City SLCC this summer