Support Homeless Youth in New York

The Problem

New York City’s homeless young people are drastically underserved. While no accurate count exists, the Empire State Coalition estimates that there are 3,800 young people living on the streets of New York City each night. However, there are only 576 crisis shelter beds designated for youth citywide, and many young people feel unsafe and unwelcome in homeless shelters intended for adults and families. Many homeless young people have suffered physical, mental and emotional abuse and/or sexual exploitation. Others were kicked out of their homes by their families of origin due to their sexual orientation and/or gender identity. Nearly all have suffered numerous instances of trauma and victimization. 

Streetwork Project

Streetwork Project strives to reduce harm and provide support to homeless or ‘housing unstable’ youth up to the age of 24. Streetwork’s service continuum starts with its extensive street outreach efforts. Every night, Streetwork staff and peer advocates travel across New York City to areas where young people congregate, to offer safer sex supplies, snacks, warm clothing, and information about services available at Streetwork and other providers. As youth become more comfortable with Streetwork through the efforts of our outreach teams, they may choose to access the services we offer at our two drop-in centers located in Manhattan’s Harlem and Lower East Side neighborhoods. When new clients come to the drop-in center for the first time, staff engage them in a brief intake session that includes collecting demographic information and assessing their immediate needs. Clients are then assigned a case manager who connects them with supports that include counseling, on-site enrollment in Medicaid and other benefits, medical help, psychiatric services, support groups, access to immigration and legal services, connections to supportive housing, hot food, showers, clean clothing, laundry, and childcare, among others. In addition to the two drop-in centers, a third confidential Streetwork location provides emergency shelter for up to 30 days (with a potential 30-day extension).

Your Impact

Over the past year, with your help, we were able to:

• receive 17,345 client visits for service;
• make 14,697 outreach contacts;
• assist 1,013 clients at our two drop-in centers; and
• provide 226 young people with a safe place to sleep at our overnight shelter.

From all of us at Safe Horizon, we thank you for your past support and encourage you to continue supporting our efforts to provide assistance to New York City's homeless youth population. Together, we can make a serious impact on the lives of those in need.