“I would not be where I am today if it wasn’t for the Teen Center.” Tricia After the last Point in Time count in January 2022, there were 3455 people experiencing homelessness in Maine and approximately 30% of that population was under the age of 24. Homeless youth experience higher levels of human trafficking, interpersonal … Read more
A lack of housing shouldn’t be a barrier to the right to education. Whether they’re couch surfing with friends, sleeping in a car, hotel, or motel, or staying at a shelter, at least 15,000 youth and young adults experience homelessness each year in Maine. Thankfully, schools are federally mandated by The McKinney–Vento Homeless Assistance Act … Read more
November is National Homeless Youth Awareness Month. Educate yourself and your community about the issue of youth homelessness and what we can do to end it in Maine! Every year in Maine, at least 15,000 youth and young adults experience the tragedy of homelessness; in fact, this year more than 30% of Maine’s homeless population … Read more
Imagine that you are just 17, 18, or 19 years old. You’ve had to leave home as your parents are struggling with their own mental health issues and it is not safe for you to stay there. You have no other support system and have just lost any sense of stability and safety you once … Read more
Dianna Walters with the Jim Casey Youth Opportunities Initiative, Martin Zanghi with USM and Therese Cahill-Low with the DHHS Office of Child and Family Services will join in a discussion about young adults who “age out” of Foster Care. What becomes of young people with no permanent family connections? What needs to happen to give … Read more
Take Back The Night 30th Anniversary On November 1st 1980, a young woman of 35, stepped to the front of a tentative crowd at Portland, Maine’s first Take Back the Night March. She was nervous but filled with the fire of feminism. And to those assembled she began what amounted to a call and response … Read more
Barry D. Pfouts feeds the bodies, hearts, minds, and souls of homeless youth in Greater Portland. For more than eight years he has devoted four days each week to preparing meals for at the Preble Street Teen Center, but what he bring to the Center is far more than simply food prep and service. He … Read more
