1736 Family Crisis Center Awarded $1 Million Capital Grant by the Everychild Foundation to Address Growing Youth Homelessness
Los Angeles, CA (PRWEB) November 26, 2014 -- 1736 Family Crisis Center has been selected by the Everychild Foundation for its prestigious one-and-only 2014 grant. The $1 million capital award will be used to build the Everychild Foundation Emergency Shelter and Youth Program for homeless and at-risk youth in Los Angeles County.
As most Americans gather this week with family and friends in their homes to celebrate and give thanks, there are 2.5 million homeless children and youth in this country who do not have a place to call home. The National Center on Family Homelessness reported in November 2014 that the number of homeless children in the U.S. reached a historic high last year, with an astonishing 1 in 30 children identified as homeless. California, and Los Angeles County in particular, have one of the highest rates of child homelessness.
The Everychild Foundation Emergency Shelter and Youth Program addresses one of the most vulnerable and invisible segments of this population: youth who are homeless alone. In Los Angeles County, the vast majority of unaccompanied homeless youth are unsheltered and face intensive dangers and exploitation on the streets. Some alarming facts:
• Suicide is the primary cause of death amongst homeless youth.
• The younger a homeless youth, the more likely they are to harm themselves.
• 1 in 3 teens are recruited into the sex trade within 48 hours of leaving home.
• A pimp can make an average of $150,000 - $200,000 each year, per child.
• 7 years is the average life expectancy of girls once they become trafficked.
• 5,000 teenagers are buried each year in unmarked graves.
“Never in my 30 years as CEO at 1736 could I have imagined the current level of danger to homeless children right here on our streets,” said 1736 Family Crisis Center’s Carol Adelkoff. “This is a project about saving lives. It rescues kids from depression, pimps, homelessness, suicide, and hopelessness, and paves the way for recovery and success. We are so grateful for the dedicated support of The Everychild Foundation, L.A. City Councilmember Mike Bonin, former L.A. City Councilmember Bill Rosendahl, County Supervisors Mark Ridley-Thomas and Don Knabe, W.M. Keck Foundation, Forever Young Foundation, LAPD Pacific Division, and many community donors, agencies and members.”
The funded project will directly address escalating child and youth homelessness by expanding a safety net of life-saving and life-changing care for vulnerable homeless youth ages 10-17. The grant will provide capital to renovate a property 1736 Family Crisis Center owns and create a larger, more versatile facility for its successful 42-year-old emergency shelter program.
When completed, the new facility will offer safe temporary shelter for homeless and abused youth, and a new, adjacent Youth Empowerment Center providing crisis intervention services and educational, job training, life skills, outreach and leadership activities for shelter residents and at-risk community youth.
The project highlights how policy makers, philanthropic institutions, nonprofit organizations, and community partners working together can create lasting solutions for the most endangered children in society, and serves as a model for regional and national replication.
About 1736 Family Crisis Center
1736 Family Crisis Center has 10 facilities and reaches about 25,000 people a year through its programs throughout greater Los Angeles. The newest program assists homeless and at-risk Veterans and their families to get off the streets, overcome complex and debilitating obstacles, and start whole new lives of productivity and promise; in the last year, the program has helped 420 Veterans and their children and loved ones. The agency also operates four domestic violence shelters, an emergency youth shelter, five 24-hour suicide/crisis hotlines, a Legal Services Program, and four Community Service Centers that give mental health care, job/career development and placement, legal aid, and crisis intervention services to the general public and special needs populations including Veterans. All services are provided free of charge.
Community members and groups wishing to help a Veteran, child or family in need, or provide support to our 24-hour shelters and suicide/crisis hotlines, can make a year-end financial contribution or in-kind donation. Please call 323-737-3900 ext. 206 or send donations to 2116 Arlington Avenue, Suite 200, Los Angeles, CA 90018.
About Everychild Foundation
The mission of the Everychild Foundation is to ease suffering of children in the Greater Los Angeles area, whether due to disease, disability, abuse, neglect or poverty. The Foundation makes one grant per year to a Los Angeles area non-profit agency benefitting children and youth.
For more information on the Everychild Foundation, please visit http://www.everychildfoundation.org.
Tobi Quintiliani, LMFT, Senior Director Community Response and Relations, 1736 Family Crisis Center, http://www.1736fcc.org, +1 (310) 543-9900 Ext: 210, [email protected]
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