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Source - Service or Study
<br />Relevant Statistics
<br />Carriage House - Day adult shelter
<br />located in downtown Boulder
<br />Provides services to 20 -25 youth per day in the spring, summer and fall months, and 4-
<br />5 youth per day during the winter. Carriage House's mission is to serve adults, but
<br />allows teens to use the facility as there has been no where else for them to go. Mixing
<br />these populations is unsafe for the teens.
<br />Family Tree /Gemini Street Outreach
<br />Program - Lakewood based
<br />program, provides M/W /F teen street
<br />outreach and a resource center in
<br />the City of Boulder
<br />In 2009 over half of Gemini's 1,740 street contacts were in Boulder /Adams Counties'.
<br />16 of these youth transported from Boulder to Gemini's Lakewood shelter. Youth
<br />reported to Gemini they are resistant to leave their home counties to seek shelter in
<br />JeffCo, but there are no shelter beds in Boulder. Gemini staff believes more teens
<br />would seek out a local shelter.
<br />Boulder Shelter for the Homeless -
<br />Provides shelter to adults only
<br />Reports they turn away one or two teens per month, on average. These are mostly
<br />teens that have a strong interest in getting off the streets. They are not "recruited" by a
<br />goal of this program is to reduce youth homelessness by building trust and establishing relationships with teens and
<br />increasing their access to services that move them from living on the streets or in shelters toward stable, long -term
<br />housing and /or family reunification. Our ARC program (the combination of our former "Broadway House" and "Chase
<br />House" programs) operates three tracks: respite /extended residential care, sober living and transitional living. The
<br />goal of this program is to provide abused, neglected, delinquent, troubled and /or recovering teens with temporary
<br />residential care and treatment services to help them transition through their crises to long -term and safe placement or
<br />emancipation.
<br />Newly Established Runaway & Homeless Youth Program
<br />Local Need for Services:
<br />The recent economic downturn has greatly impacted Attention Homes' service model and our quantity of service in
<br />the past 12 months. In February 2010 Boulder County Department of Housing and Human Services announced a
<br />$4.5 million budget deficit. Placement referrals soon dropped dramatically, as well as subsequent fees for service.
<br />We were also concurrently experiencing a much higher number of parent and teen self - referrals, cases social
<br />services may have otherwise intervened in the past or had recently turned away. Attention Homes had already
<br />begun researching alternative methods for serving at -risk teens that still needed our help, in anticipation of state -wide
<br />budget deficits.
<br />Our research had us inquire to Andy Johnson, Director of the State Office of Homeless Youth Services, about shelter
<br />services for the local runaway and homeless youth population. Andy informed us there were no emergency shelter
<br />beds in Boulder, Broomfield and adjacent northern Counties and there was, in fact, a great need for these services.
<br />Our board requested we further research the issue. We talked with and gathered additional information from the
<br />following local and state sources: Boulder City Council, Suzy Ageton, member; Boulder County Commissioners,
<br />Cindy Domenico, member; Boulder County Department of Housing & Human Services, Family & Children's Services,
<br />Kit Thompson, Director; Boulder Shelter for the Homeless, Greg Harms, Executive Director; Boulder Valley School
<br />District (BVSD), Mim Campos & Wendy Gaylord, McKinney -Vento Representatives; Carriage House, Joy Eckstein,
<br />Executive Director; Clinica Campesina, Amy Russell, MD, Assistant Medical Director; Community Foundation
<br />Serving Boulder County, Josie Heath, President; Dry Bones, Matt & Nikki Wallace, Directors; Family Tree's Gemini
<br />Program, Dennis Desparos, Program Manager & Nicole Sherwood, Outreach Director; Foothills United Way,
<br />Barbara Pingrey, President & CEO; Gov. Ritter's Colorado Community & Interagency Council on Homelessness,
<br />Gary Sanford, Director; HOPE, Bray Patrick -Lake, Executive Director; Save Our Youth, Luis Villarreal, Executive
<br />Director & Trudy Swain, Associate Director; St. Vrain Valley School District (SWSD), Crystal Adams, McKinney -
<br />Vento Representative and Urban Peak, Kay Ramachandran, CEO & Kendall James, Director of Programs.
<br />In communication with these sources, Attention Homes realized there was very little being done in our community to
<br />address homeless youth's needs and fewer government services available. In addition, the few services being
<br />provided were either disorganized or narrow in focus. For example, there are many adult services providing care to
<br />teens, even though it is outside their target population. Carriage House, an adult day shelter, told us they are excited
<br />to refer teens to us as it is not safe for teens to interact so closely with the adult population. Our research revealed
<br />there were two teen street outreach and day drop -in services, and no shelter options. The only day drop -in service
<br />for teens in Boulder County is open one night a week. Additional information gathered is listed in the table below.
<br />Attention Homes RHY program
<br />01.04.2011
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<br />Boulder City Council
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