SANTA BARBARA INDEPENDENT - HOMELESS YOUTH RESOURCES by Christina Kelley full article
EXCERPT:
The Runaway Homeless Youth and Trafficking Prevention Act (RHYTPA, S. 2646) is a reauthorization that would provide additional federal grants to public agencies (as well as nonprofit private agencies) to provide street-based services to runaway and homeless youth, and street youth who have been subjected to, or are at risk of being subjected to, sexual abuse, violence, trafficking in persons, or sexual exploitation. It also allows for extra funding for the provision of specified resources for gay and trafficked youth. The bill is currently sitting in the Senate with a 20 percent prognosis of passing next year and needs support.
It is not enough that California has one of the largest homeless youth populations in the country with over 200,000 of the 1.6 billion homeless teens in the U.S. More concerning is that Santa Barbara County has between 5,000-10,000 of these young people, a large percentage of whom are gay. Gay runaway homeless youth have the highest potential risk of being sexually exploited, trafficked, and committing suicide.
There are currently only 15-17 beds available in Santa Barbara for homeless or placement youth funded by the local YMCA and the county’s Independent Living Program in an effort to assist the foster care system and those who have aged out of that system. Further, the resources for runaway homeless LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans-sexual) and trafficked youth in Santa Barbara are slim to none. Pacific Pride Foundation’s staff provides street outreach and basic education in HIV and AIDS awareness and prevention. However, there are no specific resources to aid these youth in meeting their specialized needs.
PACIFIC PRIDE FOUNDATION link to place that is doing outreach on the streets of Santa Barbara.
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