Cards of Affirmation & Care Kits for Homeless Youth
Students will learn more about youth homelessness and what you can do to help. Youth homelessness has reached epidemic proportions and the problem is not going away.
With this new understanding, create personalized encouragement cards which will be included in Bundles of Love kits assembled in a separate Compassion Week project. The messages you write to these young people let them know that they matter; they are seen and loved. The youth living on the streets consistently cherish these cards as the most important part of the kits.
SEEDS Homeless Youth Project is a multi-tiered program which aims to not only meet the immediate needs of youth living on the streets, but also aims to provide long-term support and resources to ultimately end youth homelessness.
“Bundles of Love” is a primary asset for the street outreach efforts of the project. The Bundles serve as a critical tool for street outreach teams to provide affective care, safely building and fostering long-term relationships with youth living on the streets, especially while they are living on the streets. Distributing these “Bundles” as part of a larger street outreach kit (LifePacks) enables street outreach teams to build trust in a low-risk, non-threatening way with these youth. This is a critical component of unhoused youth being willing to step into an outreach services/program environment which then leads to interventions and support including access to critical services such as to emergency shelter, mentoring for job placement, transportation and access to legal aid. Long-term, this process leads to employment and stable housing placements which ultimately are the key components needed to move kids off the streets and into long-term recovery and sustainable and safe living environments.
The Bundles are distributed independently or as part of a larger outreach kit (LifePacks) by street outreach teams in Santa Cruz, San Jose, Redwood City/Palo Alto and San Francisco.
LOCATION: Los Altos UMC Youth Room, 655 Magdalena Ave, Los Altos
