On any day in Baltimore, more than 600 young people are homeless, without a stable place to live. These young people have left their homes for many reasons: Some fled unsafe living conditions. Others’ homes dissolved because their caretakers have been evicted or incarcerated, or they simply left them behind. And still others have been pushed from their homes because they are gay or transgender, pregnant or have children of their own.
Where do these teens and young adults go when they have no place else?
Wanting to answer that question, 2011 OSI-Baltimore Community Fellow Lara Law supported a group of youth leaders in the city to establish a comprehensive drop-in resource center for homeless youth.
The YES Drop-In Center, in lower Charles Village, is a “safe place” for youth, where they can regroup and get on a path to independence. The staff—many of whom have also been homeless—works with the youth to help them obtain identification, apply for government benefits and connect with schools, employment opportunities or housing.
“We first help them meet their basic needs,” Law says. “And one of those needs is friendship.”
When he turned 18 Leon Palmer’s adoptive mother asked him to leave the house he’d shared with her since he was a small child. “We didn’t get along,” he says. “It was 14 years of arguing and going at each other.” With no place else to go, Palmer went to a Baltimore City homeless shelter, where he was teased, robbed and bullied. Then he found the YES Drop-In Center—and 2011 Community Fellow Lara Law.
Lara Law worked with young adults who had been homeless to design and open the YES (Youth Empowered Society) Drop-In Center, for youth ages 14-25. Young people who are homeless use the drop-in center to meet many of the basic needs most of us take for granted: meals, laundry, or storing belongings, for example. The youth also can receive mail at the center.
The YES Center sees about 25-35 young adults a night. Some are transitioning out of foster care and have nowhere to go. Others are staying in shelters or hospital waiting rooms, riding buses all night or sleeping outside. “More than anything, it’s a place for them to regroup,” Law says. “They’re able to connect with other youth and people who have been in their shoes, to help them feel at ease, at rest. It’s a safe place.”
Law and the staff act as social workers, case managers, counselors and advocates to the 80-to-100 homeless youth who spend many hours every day at the center. In turn, the youth depend on them, trust them and feel empowered to take charge of their lives in safe and responsible ways. Here, in the middle of a busy night, an intern applies lipstick to Law, who is more than happy to participate.
Law took particular interest in Palmer, who has autism and ADHD. With the help of other case managers at the YES Center, Law helped Palmer learn to be independent, beginning with obtaining his birth certificate and other identifying information. She helped him sign up for food stamps and access disability assistance through Social Security, and connected him to a program of the Division of Rehabilitation Services (DORS), which provides daily training that will eventually lead to employment.
“Leon has a hard time expressing himself,” Law says. “But he is really very bright and quite capable. He has taken a role as an advocate for youth in similar situations. He even went with us to Annapolis and testified about homeless youth in the city.” YES takes homeless youth to speak to legislators because “it’s important for us to work on identifying the issues that are barriers to this population and engage in removing them,” Law says.
YES also helped Palmer qualify for housing at The Carriage House Transitional Living Program. Palmer, who is now 19, lives in the home with a handful of single young adults. He has his own room and personal space, but is expected to participate in the upkeep of the common areas and contribute to the groceries. He will be able to live in the group home for up to 21 months or until he turns 21.
The Carriage House program provides supportive case management, independent living skills training, and job coaching. More than that, Palmer says, having a place he calls his own has given him a new perspective on life. “I’ve been through a whole lot of pain and struggle,” Palmer says. “But now I got my own house. I got my own money that nobody can get to. Going to a shelter and waiting for a bed? That’s not me no more.”