Youth often become homeless suddenly and unpredictably, the reasons more complex than adult homelessness and the consequences frequently more tragic. That’s why those who work with homeless youth must move quickly.
A growing group of minors is getting kicked out because of how they identify their gender or sexual orientation, says Arash Ghafoori, executive director of Nevada Partnership for Homeless Youth (NPHY). “When [they] hit the streets, there’s all kinds of bad things that can happen. There are sex traffickers. There are pimps and labor traffickers. Gangs. Drug dealers. They’re all out there. They’ve made a business, essentially, of finding these youth and luring them into their worlds,” he says.
Ghafoori, who spent much of his childhood in Nicaragua helping his grandmother provide services to needy people, takes the stories of the kids served by NPHY very seriously. With a background in political science, international business and economics, he left behind a lucrative career in the corporate world to focus on running the nonprofit.
“I’m not one to go for the tearjerker, but the stories are freaking heartbreaking. You will cry,” Ghafoori says.
He recalls the story of a girl who called because her pimp was passed out with a needle in his arm. She only had 15 minutes before he would wake up. The NPHY emergency dispatch team directed her to one of their Safe Places, a program in which all Terrible Herbst gas stations, RTC buses and Clark County fire stations participate. They function as safe sites where at-risk youth can get help 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
“With [homeless children], it is all cross-sections of society. It is not just the socio-economically disadvantaged. We have kids whose parents are multimillionaires." - Arash Ghafoori
“She came in here, closed the door and slept,” Ghafoori says. “We had to wake her up to take her to our shelter. When she woke up, she said, ‘This is the first time I’ve slept with both my eyes closed, where I wasn’t scared for my life the entire time.’”
Since taking the helm of the now 16-year-old organization in 2011, Ghafoori has helped boost services—a 25 percent increase in the number of shelter beds and overseeing a $650,000 renovation of their drop-in center that doubled its size. The demand on the center jumped by 15-20 percent after the renovation, Ghafoori says.
The drop-in center, the only one of the nonprofit’s nine facilities publicly labeled, peaks at about 30-50 underage people a day. This translates to 400-500 unduplicated minors a year who use the programs. Life-skills classes, music and art therapies, computers and laptops, GED and job preparation, mental health services and immigration services are offered. The drop-in center is set up like a home, with a kitchen, laundry and shower facilities. They are invited to take whatever they need, including food and clothing, from supplies on hand.
[media-credit name="Photo: Krystal Ramirez" align="aligncenter" width="630"]
[/media-credit]
Nevada ranks fourth in homeless youth, with more than 23,000 estimated on the streets. That includes an estimated 11,000 homeless children in the Clark County School District. In the most recent federal data, Las Vegas has the second-largest population of homeless minors in the country, right after Los Angeles, says Ghafoori, who cautions against stereotyping those affected by this issue.
A national 2012 Williams Institute study estimated that as many as 40 percent of homeless youth are LGBT. According to the Administration for Children and Families, 26 percent of LGBT youth are rejected by their families and kicked out of their homes.
“With [homeless children], it is all cross-sections of society. It is not just the socio-economically disadvantaged. We have kids whose parents are multimillionaires. We have kids of rappers, who are on TV, who have been at this shelter because of domestic violence. We have kids who come from West Point-graduated families. We have kids of medical doctors. It doesn’t discriminate,” he says.
All of NPHY’s caseworkers are licensed social workers to help with IDs, Social Security cards and school enrollment. The drop-in center (4981 Shirley Street) provides them with a home address and personal voicemail, so they can enroll in school or apply for jobs without stigma about their status.
“These youth have no one. They don’t have families. When they come to us and they’re with us, we become their families in many ways,” Ghafoori says. “We imagine homelessness as being tattered and raggedy, but they don’t look at themselves like that, even in their situations. And many won’t even say they’re homeless, even if they’re in this program. They just won’t. They won’t even look you in the eyes. ... They’re brave enough to walk in here, but they’re still scared.”
[gallery columns="4" ids="125942,125930,125939,125943"]
The post Keeping Kids Safe From the Streets appeared first on Vegas Seven.