The Harbour Agency Joins the "100-Day Challenge" and Adopts Ambitious Goal

The Harbour, a social agency for homeless youth in the North and Northwest suburbs of Illinois, has joined Suburban Cook County in accepting the 100-Day Challenge by "A Way Home America", a national initiative to build a movement to prevent and end homelessness among young people (http://awayhomeamerica.org/).

PARK RIDGE, Ill. (PRWEB) December 28, 2018

The 100-Day Challenge includes homeless youth providers, advocates, researchers, government agencies, philanthropists and young people uniting behind a common goal: #endyouthhomelessness.

Suburban Cook County is one of five communities in the nation to adopt this challenge. The Harbour joined Connections for the Homeless in Evanston, Northwest Compass in Arlington Heights, and Aunt Martha's in the south side to represent Suburban Cook County at a two-day launch and workshop in Miami during November. The Suburban Cook group was joined by teams from Las Vegas, NV; Miami-Dade County, FL; Prince George's County, MD and Sacramento, CA.

During the intense two days, the Suburban Cook County team came up with an ambitious goal: in 100 Days, they will improve identification of unaccompanied youth under age 25 in 3 regions (centered around high school districts) and will assess 100% of youth in the Homeless Management system. This will result in connecting 75 youth experiencing homelessness to safe and stable housing.

Secondary goals of this ambitious challenge are to Inform and educate the community of the 100-Day Challenge, and how to identify homeless youth and connect them to resources. Youth homelessness looks different than adult homelessness. Homeless youth are NOT typically found on the street, underneath a bridge, or otherwise visible to the community. Therefore, homeless youth agencies from the Suburban Cook County community are asking to help us identify and refer youth to services. If a youth confides in you about their situation, let them know that there are housing options and help is available. Let them know about this 100-Day Challenge.

Two other key organizations provided significant support to help social service teams learn about, strategize and launch the 100-Day Challenge in their communities. Rapid Results (https://www.rapidresults.org/) coaches and trains leaders in the choreography of the 100-Day Challenge. HomeBase (https://www.homebaseccc.org/home-original), a nonprofit public interest law firm dedicated to the social problem of homelessness, works to ensure that effective housing and services are in place to help those who are homeless or at-risk of becoming homeless.

For more information, or to refer homeless youth to The Harbour, please contact us at: 847-297-8540 or at https://theharbour.org/contact.html.

About The Harbour
Since 1971, The Harbour has provided housing and supportive services to community youth in crisis in the North and Northwest suburbs of Cook County. The agency is the only state-licensed program providing emergency shelter and transition living services to homeless youth over the age of 18. Since our founding, hundreds of youth have passed through our doors who were deflected from homelessness, graduated from our programs, and are now living independently.

Today, our wide spectrum of youth housing options ensures we can meet youth where they are and provide comprehensive services designed to foster self-sufficiency and success. Youth are provided with individualized services through three core programs:

• Safe Harbour Emergency Shelter
• Youth in Transition
• Successful Teens/Effective Parents (STEPs)

While The Harbour receives some financial support from the State of Illinois, it relies on donations to provide the support needed to continue providing its services. Monthly donations, bequests and small single donations are gratefully accepted.

Important statistics regarding homeless youth in our area:

• Each year, 25,000 of our young people in Illinois will have no place to call home
• Over half are located outside of the city
• 92% do not receive the needed services
• Teens ages 12 – 17 are more likely to become homeless than adults
• In 2012, the National Runaway Safeline received more than 1,000 calls from our immediate area
• Approximately half of all homeless youth experienced physical abuse at home before becoming homeless
• 5,000 young people die every year due to assault, illness or suicide while homeless

The Harbour gratefully accepts any donations, large or small, to help shelter homeless young women and provide case management services for them.

For more information about The Harbour, please visit http://www.theharbour.org.

About A Way Home America

A Way Home America is a national initiative to build the movement to prevent and end homelessness among young people. They are homeless youth providers, advocates, researchers, government agencies, philanthropists and young people uniting behind a common goal: #endyouthhomelessness.

For more information about A Way Home America, please visit: http://awayhomeamerica.org/about-us/.

For more information on the five communities launching the 100-Day Challenge, see: http://awayhomeamerica.org/five-communities-launch-100-day-challenge-to-end-youth-homelessness/.

For the original version on PRWeb visit: https://www.prweb.com/releases/the_harbour_agency_joins_the_100_day_challenge_and_adopts_ambitious_goal/prweb16009309.htm