New Horizons Ministries began in 1978 in response to the growing number of homeless adolescents living on the streets of Seattle. What started as a program of street outreach has evolved over the years into an entire continuum of care, with an emphasis on relationship building.

The staff of New Horizons, both paid and volunteer, establish relationships with youth through street outreach as well as by providing meals, clothing, and other emergency services. New Horizons also provides case management, relational counseling, recreational activities, job mentoring, life discovery classes, and a comprehensive referral system. All of these services are designed to equip youth with the life skills, confidence, and sense of community that are vital for them to successfully exit street life.

A Harsh Reality
Every year an estimated 500,000 to 1.5 million young people run away or are forced out of their homes in the United States. An estimated 200,000 young persons are homeless and living on the streets of our country at any given time. (Adminstration for Children and families, AFC, fact Sheet, 2000.) Last year New Horizons Ministries served 1749 young people through thir outreach and drop-in services. (NHM 2007 Annual Report).

In the United States twenty to twenty-five thousand young persons 16 years old or older transition out of state foster care systems. These young persons having the least amount of resources are given the most amount of independence. 25% of this population report that they have had to spend at least one night on the street within four years of their exiting the system. (Fundamental Issues to Prevent and End Homelessness, May 2006) Advocates for Washington state Foster kids estimate 40% of street involved young people are refugees from the state Foster care system. The Three primary reasons for this systemic failure are, 1. Sibling separation in placements 2. Multiple placements and 3. Lack of cultural competency in care providers (Welcoming kids to the Table of Community: New HOrizons Ministries, as a Model of Service to Homeless Runaway Adolescents, 2003)

New Horizons Ministries has found that the common denominator among these youth is a history of abuse and family dysfunction.(Fundamental Issues, 2006) Youth run from a bad situation, not to the street. The street is the end of a process full of failures and disappointments (more about the youth is described in the section Who We Serve). Given the youth's family background and experiences with social service systems, they are often skeptical of adults and resistant to services.

Because the youth often have a hard time trusting adults, even those who desire to help, New Horizons Ministries feels that it is crucial to begin service delivery on the street—on the youth's own turf. Street outreach was the place New Horizons started, and this continues to be a crucial first step in establishing relationships and building trust. As they establish relationships, volunteers and paid case managers begin to connect youth with resources in the social service system and do follow-up activities with them.

The Challenge
Our first contact with a youth is often on the street, but then we see them in our drop-in center. Addressing issues of hunger, hygiene, and shelter allows the youth to think beyond these things and into more complex needs such as housing, education, mental health, and spiritual formation. A comprehensive referral system equips youth with the skills to move away from the street. The staff at New Horizons Ministries has learned that the process of exiting street life is always arduous, often seeming like one step forward and two steps backward.

This challenge makes a continuum of care very important; services and referrals must be available to the youth as they make this pilgrimage. Even more important than tangible services are the relationships. Staff meet kids where they are, help them jump through the variety of hoops necessary to get away from the street, cheer them on, celebrate their birthdays, and grieve their losses. Being a concrete example of love and community is the key to serving the youth. New Horizons attempts to be, in the words of one of our youth, "love with skin on it" for homeless and runaway youth.

A Disenfranchised Culture
This "love with skin on it" is rooted in our understanding of the Christian scriptures and its message that knowing Jesus Christ means caring for those who are marginalized by the dominant culture. Deuteronomy 10:17-19 says,

For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes. He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the alien, giving him food and clothing. And you are to love those who are aliens, for you yourselves were aliens in Egypt. (NIV)

The themes of care for the orphan and the fatherless run throughout scripture. God's command is a very practical one: provide bread and clothing for those who find themselves without it. The ancient Hebrews, even as God rescued them, were asked to rescue and care for the most disenfranchised members of their community. Other Old Testament passages include Jeremiah 22:3; Zechariah 7:10; Leviticus 19:25, 35-38; Proverbs 19:17, 14:31; Psalms 10:15-18, 72:1-4, 82:4; Amos 5; Hosea 6; Micah 6, and many others. The New Testament Gospels support similar themes, with scriptures that include Luke 5, Luke 10, Luke 16, Matthew 9, and John 8. The Apostle Paul gives a great challenge to the church when he writes to the Philippians about power. Paul challenges his reader to have the same mind as Christ, understanding the very nature of God by not grasping or striving for power, but pouring oneself out as a servant.

Being marginalized in our culture means being powerless and being at the mercy of people and institutions that often use their power to maintain a level of oppression toward the powerless rather than to empower them. New Horizons desires to model the economy of the kingdom of God—those who are greatest are the ones who learn to be servants, the ones who give up power or use it to empower the powerless. We don't have it all figured out, but we are learning along the way.

"Act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly..." Micah 6:8
New Horizons Ministries staff members seek to serve those who are not only orphaned by parents, but who are orphaned by a culture as well. We have chosen to move close enough to see, hear, and feel the cries of kids robbed of a childhood, kids whose self image has been crushed. Like Jesus' story of the Good Samaritan who saw the humanity of the battered man (Luke 8:30-37), we desire the youth to see through all the things that might alienate them from our culture. As the prophet Micah admonishes the reader to justice and mercy, we long to incarnate these things in the lives of the youth.