NEVADA PARTNERSHIP FOR HOMELESS YOUTH: Better days ahead

Program seeks to help teens in need find a future off of the streets

View file photoMatt, 17, foreground, and Chris, 16, work on computers at the Nevada Partnership for Homeless Youth?s drop-in center, 4800 S. Maryland Parkway, Suite E. The center includes a game room and a pantry stocked with nonperishable food that teens can take with them. Steve Andrascik/ViewKathleen Boutin, director of the Nevada Partnership for Homeless Youth, said the organization?s drop-in center tries to address homeless teens? vital needs, such as hunger. Steve Andrascik/ViewMatt, a Nevada Partnership for Homeless Youth graduate, plays air hockey at the organization?s drop-in center. Advertisement

Matt spent more than four years sleeping on a different couch every night before he decided to get his life in order.

"I was about 13 when I left home," he said. "My mom had too many problems."

Kathleen Boutin, director of the Nevada Partnership for Homeless Youth, said Matt's story is common.

"Most first-time runaways have been kicked out of their house or are leaving an abusive situation," Boutin said. "Most of the kids we see have extremely dysfunctional parents."

Matt said everything in his house, which he shared with his mother and grandmother, was good until his grandmother died on Valentine's Day in 2003.

Boutin said there are three types of homeless teens: couch surfers, who sleep on friends' couches; squatters, who live on rooftops or in abandoned buildings; and first-time runaways.

About five months ago, Matt, who is now 17, called the center to get some help finding a job and started spending time at the drop-in center at 4800 S. Maryland Parkway, which offers teens a few essentials.

"I just didn't want to do it anymore," he said. "I wanted to get my life straightened out."

Boutin said the drop-in center tries to look at homeless teens' vital needs. She said the homeless are dehydrated in winter just as much as summer. The center is stocked with water, Gatorade and other drinks, which the teens can take with them. They also can take nonperishable food from the center's food pantry.

The majority of homeless people are vegetarians because meats can make them sick, Boutin said.

The center does food exchanges with some other local nonprofits to make sure it always has vegetarian options that the teens can carry in their backpacks.

Kids also can take $5 food vouchers for fast-food restaurants that offer vegetarian choices.

Anyone ages 16 to 20 can pick up school supplies and hygiene kits, which include baby wipes, sunblock, lotion, toothbrushes and toothpaste.

Although there is a closet with clothes, shoes and socks, Boutin said it's important to buy the kids new things.

"I feel like they deserve new things because they come off the street. We try to provide new, clean things," Boutin said. "It provides self-confidence, especially for the young girls."

Teens can use the drop-in center for up to two hours a day to take a shower, do laundry or hang out and play video games. There are no fire walls on the computers because many teens want to log on to MySpace.com.

"By the time kids end up on the streets, they have seen and done a lot," Boutin said. "And many teens use MySpace to communicate with siblings."

When teens first visit, they are asked to fill out an intake form. If they don't want to talk to a counselor, they still can use the facility. But on the second visit, they need to speak with someone about their situation.

Boutin said staff wants the teens to feel comfortable and know they have a place to come, even if it's only for a few hours a day.

In 2006, there were 1,483 unduplicated teens who visited the center, Boutin said.

Staff at the center will help teens find a job, get work permits, enroll in school and find housing.

Boutin said the first avenue that NPHY takes is to find a family member for the teen to live with, but sometimes that's not an option. The organization has condos that house eight male and eight female teens.

Matt lives in the condos and is going to school to get his general equivalency diploma. He said he wants to go to college.

The male condos are in southeast Las Vegas, and the female ones are in Henderson. The kids can stay in the condos until they are 20, as long as they pass a drug test and do not smoke. Residents are encouraged to have a full-time job or go to school full time.

They have one or two roommates, and Boutin said NPHY will match teens who don't have anything in common. There are house parents who live on the same street as the teens. The kids are given freedoms, but have to follow a curfew of 9 p.m. if they are under 18, and 11 p.m. if they are older.

Although the drop-in center is open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, there is a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week response program. If a teen calls (866) 827-3723 anywhere in Southern Nevada, including Las Vegas, Henderson, North Las Vegas, Pahrump, Mesquite or Laughlin, an NPHY staff member will pick them up.

Teens also can go to any Terrible Herbst gas station. The 117 locations around Southern Nevada are designated Safe Places, and kids can get help there.

Boutin said if someone comes across a homeless teen, they should call the help line rather than try to offer the kids money or food. She said the teens often are put off by adults and are cautious about what people want from them.

Teens age out of the program when they are 20, but, Boutin said, "We will never release a kid to homelessness."

Counselors work with the youths to make sure they have jobs and apartments, and the organization offers rental assistance.

NPHY always can use monetary donations. The organization is looking for socks and $10 Regal Cinema gift cards.

For more information, visit www.nphy.org or call 388-1332.