(back)

For homeless teens: Welcome home

By M.V. Moorhead

“Homeless? Runaway? Living on the Streets?” The flier taped to the side of a Kyrene Corridor pay phone gets no more than a passing glance. After all, our own kids are  fortunate enough that none of those conditions apply, nor do we know of anyone to whom they do.

But there are those, including even some in the comfortable Kyrene Corridor, to whom such a message would not only be relevant but a potential lifesaver.

Informational fliers are being distributed in the neighborhood by the outreach van for Tumbleweed’s Tempe Youth Resource Center, established last November as an outreach of the Phoenix agency with a longtime and notable history of helping young people.

The fliers direct homeless teens and young adults to the center, located upstairs in the First Congregational Church at 101 E. Sixth St. in downtown Tempe.

“If you are 21 and under,” the message advises, “we can help you.”

Though the center has no live-in facilities, its help extends to food, identification, shelter placement, showers, jobs, phones, even clothes.

The center has been operating since last fall, says Shawn Croskey, an Iowa native and ASU sociology grad who serves as the center’s program coordinator.

Croskey is a veteran of Tumbleweed’s operations.

“I still remember the (classified) ad; it said ‘Lousy Pay But Great Opportunity for Self-Actualization.’ I was a youth care worker for three years at the Phoenix Drop-In Center, which we’ve pretty much tried to replicate here. It became clear that there was a similar program needed in Tempe.”

As to the specifics of that program, Croskey reads from Tumbleweed’s mission statement:

“To empower young people to become self-sufficient and to develop skills to seek alternatives to life on the street. Through the efforts of Tumbleweed and other youth-serving agencies, we will offer our skills and services to youth and young adults living on the streets of Tempe and the surrounding East Valley.”

Most of the center’s funding, says Croskey, “comes through HUD (the federal government’s agency for Housing and Urban Development).

“I’m not sure how much it was, but it was for two years. But after the first year, there’s going to be a review, with the city of Tempe and the church we’re leasing, to see how it’s going. But so far it’s been going great.”

There has also been support from key members of Tempe Community Council and the Homeless Advisory Board, including Pizzeria Uno’s Jan Nicpon.

“It (was) nice, when we started, to have some people in our corner,” says Croskey, “as there was some antagonism toward us at the beginning. And understandably so. People didn’t know what to expect.”

So far, though, says Croskey, the center’s operations have barely raised an eyebrow.

“This has been a pretty discreet operation. One of the concerns of the local businesses has been that it would be an eyesore, and that there’d be a lot of kids loitering. But I still have people coming up to me, saying ‘Have you guys started yet?’ And we’ve been here since November.”

Hours for center are Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 5:15 p.m. The phone numbers are (480) 966-2036 and (toll-free) 1-888-229-9926.

(back)