National research from the University of Chicago’s Chapin Hall Voices of Youth Count study indicates that nearly 4.2 million young people experienced homelessness in United States in a single year. Chapin Hall found in its Missed Opportunities: Counting Youth Experiencing Homelessness in America report that 1 in 10 (or 3.5 million youth and young adults) ages 18-25 years experienced homelessness over a one-year period. Among younger youth ages 13-17 years, without homes, 1 in 30 (or 700,000 youth) experienced homelessness.
As some of the most vulnerable among us, these youth are more likely than their housed peers to struggle with multiple issues, such as challenges in school, mental illness, loneliness, substance, physical and sexual abuse. Often stigmatized, these youth can also unknowingly fall victim to violence, exploitation, and human trafficking. They remain invisible as they seek temporary housing on someone's couch, make use of emergency shelters, or sleep in tents, cars and bus stations. Additionally, runaway and homeless youth have increased risk factors for acquiring COVID-19, being unsheltered, having poor underlying health issues and being less likely to seek health care.
How can we increase awareness of these issues in our communities and better support these young people? One strategy is through participating in the National Runaway Prevention Month (NRPM) campaign, a national effort spearheaded by the National Runaway Safeline (NRS), with support from the Family and Youth Services Bureau (FYSB). Observed each November, NRPM “shines a light” on the issues affecting runaway and homeless youth and connects us with organizations and communities to build partnerships, share available resources and services, and raise awareness of runaway incidents and youth homelessness. I believe that raising awareness throughout our nation is the first step toward creating solutions to prevent youth homelessness.
Effective solutions requires cross-sector community partnerships. As diverse community leaders (e.g., nonprofits, schools, businesses, etc.), we can become involved in NRPM efforts to promote community action and long-term solutions to support youth experiencing housing instability. In an effort to foster community partnerships, NRS and FYSB developed the National Runaway Prevention Month 2021 Partner Toolkit (PDF). This toolkit provides specific community initiatives, infographics, social media messages, and videos to coordinate awareness, gather, and direct support to youth and young adults.
There are many ways of becoming involved with NRPM (PDF), including lunch and learns opportunities, Twitter chats, education week, Wear Green Day, Community Lights and more. I invite each of you to visit the NRPM website to learn more and join NRPM national events. Additionally, this year’s NRPM provides an opportunity for youth to lead or join activities to help improve the lives of their peers facing homelessness. By becoming a NRPM Youth Ambassador young people can use their creativity in planning fun events, spreading the word on social media, and volunteering with nonprofits in their area to educate others about the runaway and homeless youth crisis. Youth can visit this webpage to download the NRPM Youth Ambassador Toolkit and learn how to become a campaign ambassador.
I hope you join me throughout the month in participating in NRPM events. Our collective actions this month, and throughout the year, will help to ensure that communities are supporting youth experiencing homelessness by strengthening supportive systems, connecting youth with caring adults, and assessing factors that contribute to perpetuating youth homelessness in our own communities. We all have a role to play in preventing and ending runaway and youth homelessness. Let’s shine our lights together!
Thank you for joining NRPM!