
Homelessness is an issue felt across the country. Here in the Eugene/Springfield, homelessness is a wide-spread issue that many organizations have been grappling with for years. With the ever increasing population in the Eugene/Springfield areas, the housing market has become more competitive, which has increased rent, utility costs, and availability of housing. Although the population experiencing homelessness has remained relatively consistent throughout the last few years, waiting lists for subsidized housing and housing assistance programs continue to grow longer and longer. Many people turn to the Eugene Mission to seek temporary housing, especially during the cold winter months. However, if you are an unaccompanied youth and you are experiencing homelessness, gaining access to resources is more difficult.
Youth under the age of 18 are unable to access many food distribution resources, shelters, and resource centers due to their status as a minor. For those between the ages of 18 and 23, the available resources are oftentimes not appropriate and young people can find themselves interacting with populations they have not encountered yet. In order to fill this gap in resources for youth, the 15th Night has created a community coalition that acts as a safety net for young people experiencing homelessness.
The 15th Night is a broad community partnership designed to prevent youth from going out on the street and to intervene quickly if they do. Instead of creating a new 501(c)3, the 15th Night created a coalition of existing non-profits, businesses, and community leaders all focused on providing services to work on prevention and intervention. The 15th Night has created organizational objectives for the coalition:
- Reduce youth dropout rates due to homelessness
- Inform our community and youth of the dangers street life can bring
- Create a culture of caring throughout our community towards at-risk youth
- Help our community to better understand what their participation could do for a homeless youth
- Create accessibility for homeless youth in regards to community resources and assistance
To find out more about the 15th Night, visit:
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How Does AFFEC Fit into the Network?
A Family For Every Child will be providing three services to the 15th Night network: mentoring, family finding, and host homes. AFFEC has been providing both mentoring and family finding to the community for almost a decade, however the host homes is a new program that was created to fill the housing gap in our community. To learn more about ...
- Host homes and how to become one, click here
- How to become a mentor
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Family finding - visit our family finding page for more information.
Fill out the volunteer form to learn how to assist us with our family finding program.
We are also looking for community members to join the movement and volunteer in a number of ways.
If you are interested in volunteering in either capacity:
- Fill out a volunteer application.
- Select the appropriate boxes for either mentor, family finding volunteer, or host home.