Who We Serve

About Street Culture
To survive at Fayette and Mount, you had to get over every damn day and you've got to be good at it. But applying the rules of the corner to any other world invites only frustration and failure. You're supposed to trade your dope fiend skills for what? Humility? Servitude?  Minimum wage? Giving up the drugs is hard enough; giving up the hustle is harder still. And if you do manage it, all you've done is come to the end of the beginning.
--David Simon and Edward Burns, The Corner

Urban Youth
The common denominator among homeless runaway adolescents is neither economics nor ethnicity. Runaway youth come from every socio-economic group in America. They are a segment of the urban youth population.

A recent study by Ana Marie Cauce, Ph.D. Department of Psychology, University of Washington, maintains that of all youth leaving home, 35% claimed their decision to leave home was made by parent or equivalent, 19% were removed from their homes by a third party, and only 33% left as a result of their own decision. These youth are labeled "runaways," but in the majority of cases, youth are taken from their homes. Cauce goes on to claim, Many if not most, have experienced physical abuse, neglect, and or sexual abuse. The high incidence of abuse is collaborated by many sources. In a 1992 study, 78% of youth sampled in Hollywood shelters disclosed physical and/or sexual abuse.” (Michael DiPaola, The Impact of Multiple Trauma on Homeless Runaway Adolescents, NY, NY Garland 1999,4.)

Downward Spiral
It is also important to clarify that the developmental process of adolescence contributes to the downward spiral toward the streets. Youth are attempting to answer the questions, Who am I? Where do I fit in? What are my capabilities or limits? In answering these questions, youth begin to form their own identity. While the developmental process pushes the youth to ask these questions, their family systems are not a stable backdrop to begin this experiment with identity. The relational reference point that most youths need is flawed or nonexistent. Without this family or community that serves as a rudder to help navigate toward identity and individuation, youth become chameleons, defined by the environment they find themselves in at the moment. Poor family functioning and abuse, foster care that is ill-equipped to deal with childhood trauma, and the normal adolescent search for identity all lead youth to believe they must care for themselves. This pushes the youth away from a community of service providers and towards the street. 

Survival
The youth's already fragile self-esteem is further eroded by the nature of street survival. Chemical use and prostitution work in collaboration with each other, creating a systemic loop that traps the youth in street life. Youth run from a painful and dysfunctional past, and the streets provide a temporary sense of relief and independence. However, street life is hard. Youth survive in ways that physically sustain them or emotionally medicate, but that create more intense trauma in the long run. Prostitution, in some tragic way, exploits the youth even as they're attempting to work out the exploitation of their past. Youth look to chemicals to numb themselves from the painful realities of street life, but then experience the negative affects of drug abuse and addiction. New Horizons estimates that 50% of the youth we serve have been involved in some form of commercial sexual exploitation. Diapolo sites a survey that claims 29% of their youth had been paid for sex while another 22% had exchanged sex for food or shelter. A counselor at New Horizons remembers a youth speaking about her involvement in prostitution. She said, Why not sell it? My dad got it for free. Youth on the street find out quickly that the streets are about survival and the most lucrative commodity to be sold is themselves.

Counter-culture
Youth on the streets find themselves literally in a counter-culture: a culture shaped by dysfunctional family histories, the present orientation of adolescence, perceived poverty, and the rituals and routines of drug use. The toughness of street life leads to an adolescent persona that is cocky, brash, and apparently in need of nothing. Developmentally, the youth are immature, fearful, and insecure. Kids get by on the street by getting over on someone else. They can survive on the street this way, but this limits their ability to be introspective or access services. The youth are skeptical of services and untrusting of adults. They grow up quickly due to life experiences, but psychologically and socially their development has been hindered by multiple traumatic events. Without intervention they land in prisons, morgues, and mental institutions. At the very least, they will unintentionally and unconsciously pass on this pain to their own children.