YOUTH NEED YOU
HOMELESSNESS IN WASHINGTON STATE
40,365
students experienced homelessness during the 2017-18 school year.
According to the 2015-18 Report from Schoolhouse Washington.
1/30 students grades K-12 experienced homelessness during the 2017-18 school year.
According to the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction for the State of Washington.
46% of youth experiencing homelessness were physically abused at their home.
According to the National Coalition for the Homeless (1997).
Up to 40% of youth experiencing homelessness are LGBT. Many experience rejection from their family.
According to the National Network for youth.
21-40% of youth experiencing homelessness were sexually abused at their home.
According to the US Department of Health and Human Services survey (2002).
WHAT ARE SOME OF THE BARRIERS AND DANGERS YOUTH FACE WHILE HOMELESS?
addiction // trauma
About 80% of homeless youth age 12-21 used drugs or alcohol as a means to self-medicate to deal with traumatic experiences and abuse.* Homeless youth are three times more likely to use cocaine than stably housed youth.**
*According to the www.dosomething.org. **According to the National Network for Youth.
mental health
Over 40% of homeless teens struggle with depression.* The rates of depression, conduct disorder, and PTSD were three times as high among runaway youth as among youth who had not run away.**
*According to the National Health Care for the Homeless Council (NHCHC). **According to the National Coalition for the Homeless (1997).
human trafficking
More than one third of homeless youth engage in survival sex to get resources like food, shelter, or protection.
According to the National Coalition for the Homeless (1997).
the housing crisis
In Washington State, a minimum wage earner ($12/hr) would have to work 75 hours per week to afford a 1-bedroom apartment at Fair Market Rent.
According to reports.nlihc.org/oor/washington.
What does the Coffee Oasis have to do with this?
Our goal is to be “out there.” Wherever they are. In the midst of whatever they’re going through. To compassionately guide youth out of homelessness and into lives of dignity, integrity and responsibility. To see not just the lives of youth changed, but for the world around them to change and become a place that cares for hurting youth. Our mission is to…
change the world for homeless youth
For twenty years The Coffee Oasis (a 501(c)3 non-profit organization) has offered hope and opportunity to homeless youth, ages 13-25, in Washington. Thousands of youth have found community and healing through the Oasis Youth Programs.
youth programs:
STREET HOPE
Street & school outreach
OASIS CENTERS
Youth centers & resources
HOPE HOMES
Housing & stability
PARTNERING HOPE
Case management & mentoring
HOPE INC.
Job training & internships
CRISIS INTERVENTION
Guidance & safety
Chance’s Story
On the streets at age 12. Chance felt the burden of messing up in the past and wrestled to not give in to the hopelessness that once dragged him down.
“My mom, I never really had her to teach me how to live, how to take care of myself. My mom didn’t know how to take care of her kids, though she tried with all the tools she had. I wasn’t allowed to be a kid, do kid things, when I was growing up.” The pain of Chance’s childhood is evident when he speaks. At age 12 he started using and selling hard-core drugs to cope. “I was really going through things. I didn’t really realize they were affecting my mind-set and mentality. And I didn’t realize the drugs I was selling were tearing my community apart.”
When he was 16 Chance moved to Everett in an attempt to escape the drug community and get clean. Unfortunately, he found the same way of life in Everett. It wasn’t long before Chance returned to Kitsap and started fighting a new battle: depression.
Chance didn’t know how to live a different life than one entwined with the streets, with instability and drugs and pain. The last few years had been a tangle of couch surfing, staying with friends, or living on the streets. While growing up he stayed with his mom at shelters. He needed someone to show him a different way of life. Chance remembers his turning point…
“I woke up one day and just was like ‘I want to have clean money. I want to be happy. Drugs don’t make me happy, they just numb me.’”
Eventually, Chance met Lisa in downtown Port Orchard. Lisa was doing outreach to connect homeless youth with community and resources at The Coffee Oasis. Chance responded to Lisa’s invitation. He was finally ready for change. “I never believed in myself before here (The Coffee Oasis). I pretended that I was confident but I wasn’t. They helped me believe in myself.” At first, Chance’s insecurity came out in attitude and rebelliousness at the Oasis Center. He chafed against the rules and against the structured community he deeply wanted. Gradually, he began trust the staff and volunteers. Chance allowed them to get close and they soon became family.
“When I struggle with depression, I think of the people here. I think of Paul, Lisa, Maxine—how they are all here for me. They help me mentally. They really help me believe there’s a future for me.”
Jessie’s Story
The weight of being homeless was constant.
“When you are homeless… You don’t have blankets every night. You have to rough it on the concrete in the cold. You don’t always have friends you can go to. That’s the hardest.”
Jessie experienced a lot of instability in her life. She was in foster care for a year as a child, moved several times with her mom, and stayed in a shelter at age 17. But she always had a home. Until the shelter exited her into homelessness at age 18.
Jessie and her boyfriend, Stephen, worked hard to provide a home for their young daughter, Violet. They had income, but working their way up to affording current market rent was daunting…
“People don’t understand how hard it is to get a job, especially when you’re homeless. Even if you could get a job, it’s hard when you don’t know where you’re sleeping that night. Sometimes we have to stay up all night to make sure no one messes with us, and that makes it hard to go to work. Even studio apartments now are $1,000 a month. And you don’t just get a really nice paying job right away.”
Through the Coffee Oasis, Jessie and Stephen were offered guidance, resources, and a community to support them as they faced these challenges.
Ensure youth have a place to find refuge, community, and housing by joining the Real Hope Club.
The Real Hope Club is a group of people who are committed monthly givers. As a member, you will receive a welcome pack and regular updates on the ways you are providing for youth. You will be connected to a community of people who share the same passion as you. And most importantly, you will provide youth with the consistent care they need.
Provide youth with a supportive community they can turn to for guidance and resources. People to walk with them as they face these challenges. Give youth a family. A home.