Covenant House is a valued partner collaborating with a number of other organizations in Houston to conduct outreach and survey homeless youth.
In Houston, when youth feel they have nowhere to turn, they can go to Covenant House Texas. The organization offers refuge for homeless and runaway youth through their crisis shelter, transitional living program, and permanent housing program. They also provide an array of services to help youth live independent and healthy lives, including free medical care, mental health and substance abuse counseling, life skills training, and more.
In 2015, 5,092 youth came to the Covenant House seeking shelter. We were fortunate enough to meet a few of these youth during Youth Count Texas! surveying in January. See some of their portraits below:
Samuel
Hailey
Anthony
Fares
In addition to Covenant House Texas, the Houston Coalition for the Homeless is making major efforts to strengthen the continuum of care for youth who don’t have stable housing. With Coalition staff, we visited a Salvation Army youth and young adult daytime drop-in center where youth have access to counselors, computers, toiletries, and more. These organizations showed us that with properly funded support systems in place, our communities can successfully reach out to youth who are facing challenging times. Their contribution to the Youth Count Texas! initiative helped us survey more homeless youth whose responses will better shape our advocacy efforts.
We believe all youth in Texas deserve a helping hand when they no longer have a place to call home. Having the opportunity to meet resilient youth in Houston only strengthens our resolve to continue promoting increased statewide funding for their needs.
To learn more about Youth Count Texas! visit our webpage.