Street Outreach
In October of 2003, Street Outreach began as an additional way to reach out to youth, up to 21 years old, who are disconnected from the community. This program seeks to provide education and prevention services to runaway, homeless and street youth who have been subjected to or at risk of sexual exploitation or abuse, and work to build relationships between street youth and program outreach staff in order to help youths leave the street. Once a trusting relationship has been established between outreach staff and youth, the staff will assess the youth's needs and refer them to applicable programs, either within YSB or within the community, for services. We have assisted young people with needs ranging from safe shelter to job training, education opportunities, health services and even young mom’s programs to name a few.
Our street outreach program is based on the very successful Urban Peaks Program for urban street outreach. We have utilized the approach offered by the Empire State Coalition to provide outreach in rural areas.Each year the staff are increasing their outreach to more youth, building upon those relationships and seeing our client list continue to expand in each succeeding year. In 2008, Street Outreach served 514 clients. In 2009 we had 665 and, at the pace we're going, this year we will have even more. We now have over 40 outreach sites manned on a weekly basis, including high schools, neighborhoods, parks, special events and malls. In late fall we have our own special event, Freezin for a Reason, where we collect winter wear and give it away at certain subsidized housing complexes. We even have a Myspace page!
