Every Thursday night, Weinberg senior Elizabeth Green and a few other Northwestern students take the El downtown to provide an important service to Chicago’s homeless youth: a willingness to listen.
Green and the other students go to the Center on Halsted, a community center in Chicago’s Lakeview neighborhood, to spend time with the city’s homeless youth. Green is one of about 20 NU students who have completed an eight-hour training course to become a street outreach volunteer with StandUp for Kids – a national nonprofit organization dedicated to helping homeless youth – the 2010 NU Dance Marathon beneficiary.
Each week, volunteers from across the Chicago area bring food packs and sometimes other necessities like jackets or deodorant to distribute to the teens and young adults. They typically spend about an hour hanging out and having conversations with kids at the center.
DM beneficiary liaison Jessica Newman said one of the most important parts of starting StandUp for Kids in a new city is recruiting a volunteer base, because everyone involved in the operation of a chapter, including the executive director, is a volunteer.
Green got involved with street outreach through her position as DM Dancer Relations co-chairwoman because she said she thought it was a great opportunity to interact “face-to-face” with the beneficiary organization. She said the youth can talk to the volunteers about more serious issues they face, but they often want to have light conversation. She said street outreach is not about being a role model or “trying to preach to them” – they just want someone to listen.
“I had a long conversation with a girl about how excited she was that (‘New Moon’) was coming out, and we talked for 45 minutes about the ‘Twilight’ series,” Green said. “I will have to remember to ask her the next time I see her if she got a chance to see it.”
StandUp for Kids has more than 60 chapters in cities nationwide, and DM is working with the new Chicago chapter, which started its street outreach in May.
Brian Haslip, StandUp for Kids national trainer, said the first thing volunteers learn in training is the magnitude of youth homelessness in the United States.
“There are 1.3 million homeless kids, and half of them are under 16,” Haslip said. “But the statistic that gets me the most is a small number – 13. Thirteen kids a day die on the street from abuse, disease and suicide.”
Green said one of the main challenges of street outreach is gaining the trust of the youth and letting them know that someone is there to hear their stories. She said the Chicago chapter is growing quickly, and she is excited NU is able to be a part of the process.
“These are kids our age who don’t always have a friend,” Green said. “This program has so much opportunity to grow, and this is a great way for NU students to get involved in the community.”[email protected]
