What does home mean to you? This
#GivingTuesday, our team is asking that question. With the help of community partners,
@voicescorp launched our Emergency Shelter and Transitional Housing Programs. Since July 2023, nine residents have called The Blossom House, a 90-day emergency shelter home for male youths ages 14-17, home. A resident said home for him is “where you have the same bed to lay down at night and the same bed to wake up in the morning.”
What we know
- The Federal government defines homelessness as lacking a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence. This includes students living in motels, trailer parks, campgrounds, emergency shelters, or sharing housing with others.
- Homeless children and youth are difficult to count because they usually change residences and schools often, and many youth–especially unaccompanied teens–try to hide the fact that they are homeless.
- Marion County, at 2.1%, ranks in the top 10 for the percentage of homeless enrolled students in Indiana.
- Black youth face an 83% increased risk of homelessness than their white peers.
- 40% of the 15,000 people who become homeless in Indianapolis each year live in families with children.
While these stats are deeply troubling, they are deeply changeable.
Join us this #GivingTuesday as we focus on our housing programs to welcome the unhoused youth in our city home.
