Posted on: Thursday, October 7, 2004

Grant will help reach youth on streets

By Curtis Lum
Advertiser Staff Writer

A nonprofit agency that provides services to an estimated 1,000 homeless and runaway youths in Hawai'i has received a $300,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

The three-year grant went to the Hawai'i Youth Services Network, a coalition of nonprofit organizations that target runaway and homeless youths. Part of the grant will be used for street outreach programs such as educating people about relationship violence, said Judith Clark, executive director of Hawai'i Youth Services Network.

The state has at least 1,000 homeless and runaway children at any given time, and the agency and its partners have direct contact with more than 70 percent of them each year, Clark said.

Agencies that will benefit from the grant include Hale Kipa on O'ahu, Maui Youth and Family Service, and Family Support Services of West Hawai'i on the Big Island. Clark said the money would allow them to increase their presence on the streets.

She said building a relationship with young people is key to a successful outreach program. "You provide them with some survival assistance in terms of passing out things like food, giving them information about shelter options, and eventually persuading them to accept help that will get them off the streets and into a safe living environment," Clark said.

Nearly 90 percent of their clients are victims of abuse at home or on the streets, but Clark said they often don't realize they are in violent relationships. She said the agencies would use the grant money to raise awareness and help victims find solutions.

"Many of these youths have had these experiences, but for many of them violence has been so much a part of their lives that they don't even see this as a problem," Clark said. "It certainly takes second place to survival needs like food and a safe place to sleep tonight."

The HYSN grant was one of six awarded nationally to promote a collaboration between domestic violence and runaway and homeless youth programs, said U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie, D-Hawai'i, who helped secure the grant.

Clark said the grant is critical during a tough economic period for nonprofit agencies. She said more youths will be helped.

"It's very rewarding when a youth moves from living on the streets and scrounging in garbage cans or trading sex for money to survive on. To move from that into having a job, a savings account, an apartment of their own, is just wonderful to see," Clark said.