Jared* was in jail. Before he went to jail, he had been couch-surfing. This meant that when he got discharged he would have nowhere to go.

Over the past year, Jared had visited the Oasis Center off and on, building friendships with the youth and staff. When he went to jail, Jared asked the jail staff if they would connect him to services that could help him find housing. So on Wednesday he met Randy. Randy is part of the new Coffee Oasis Crisis Intervention Team and his focus is to offer case management to youth in jail or juvy. Youth are often discharged without connections to resources, so they go right back into homelessness and slip through the cracks. Randy’s job is to prevent that from happening.

During their meeting, Randy shared the Bremerton Housing Solutions Center housing application with Jared and helped him fill it out. He invited Jared to continue case management once he was discharged, and to get more connected with the Coffee Oasis.

On Monday, Randy visited the Oasis Center, and there was Jared! He had been discharged over the weekend and gone straight to Housing Solutions to turn in his housing application, then to the Coffee Oasis. “I didn’t tell him to go down there and turn it in. He just did it!” said Randy. He thanked and encouraged Jared for being proactive in his goals, and they made arrangements to begin case management.

Often youth need just one helping hand so they can take the next step towards their goal. You can help create opportunities for homeless youth like Jared!

*name changed to respect youth’s identity

 

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