360 Youth Services to use $3 million in federal funding for homeless shelter for youth ages 18 to 24
Naperville-based 360 Youth Services rented 15 rooms at an area hotel throughout 2021 as a crisis shelter for 34 young people ages 18 to 24.
In the first months of 2022, that number hit 37, and those figures don't include those who are homeless on the agency's emergency housing waiting list.
"If you have a car, we can't prioritize you because you have a home — like that's your car," said Valerie Tawrel, 360?s director of housing. "That is gut-wrenching, to say the least."
With such a high demand for emergency shelter, changes are in the works for the nonprofit now that it is receiving a $3 million federal grant secured by U.S. Reps. Bill Foster, D-Naperville, and Sean Casten, D-Downers Grove, as part of an omnibus bill recently passed by Congress.
Dawn Melchiorre, interim CEO of 360 Youth Services, said the money will be used as a down payment to purchase a building, such as acquiring a shuttered hotel, similar to what DuPage PADS is doing with a former Red Roof Inn in Downers Grove.
"That's absolutely a model that we're taking a look at," Melchiorre said.
Tawrel said the basic plan is for clients to have space for the basics — a safe place to sleep and charge their phones, take a shower, and get clean clothes and food — as well as provide support services for educational, vocational, and mental and physical health needs.
360 program manager Precious Bradley said last year 41% of the young people who stayed in the shelter reported having mental health concerns, and that's where the agency needs to expand its services.
For example, she said, it's difficult to help set clients up with jobs if they're struggling with social anxiety. "We have to address that first before we can help them move towards either their fullest potential," Bradley said.
A lot of the 360?s clients don't have jobs because they don't have the identification necessary to secure a job, like an address, she said.
"A little over 90% of the folks in my shelter now have secure jobs with the help of the case manager," Bradley said.
Jennifer Shanahan, 360 Youth Services grants manager, said since 2000 the agency has maintained a transitional housing model where clients stay for two years, become stabilized and exit to stable housing.
Since 2017, rapid rehousing was introduced where clients can get a lease in their name and continue to have support. The amount of rental help they receive decreases as they become more independent.
"Now this emergency shelter piece adds to this continuum of care," Shanahan said.
Those in emergency care are assessed to see if they qualify for or need additional programs, she said.
Melchiorre said the organization's vision is to ensure that people in the 18 to 24 age group "know they have a place where they can be safe and loved." Most often the most vulnerable in the community are people of color and LGBTQ youth, she said.
Foster said one of the main duties of those elected to Congress is to help repair some of the holes in the safety net in our society. Unfortunately, many LGBTQ youth are homeless or at risk of homelessness because families are not supportive or they feel the pressure of growing up in an unwelcoming community, he said.
LGBTQ youth are four times as likely to commit suicide and are 15 times as likely to experience homelessness, Casten said, and it's not anything endemic to their sexuality.
"It's because we have a whole society, too many parts of our society, who quick to judge because of that and, sadly, it's not going away anytime soon," he said.
Source: Suzanne Baker