Franklin County in western Maine is one of four rural sites across the country chosen by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to take part in a 100-day effort to end and prevent youth homelessness.
New Beginnings, a nonprofit that provides services to runaway and homeless youth in Androscoggin, Kennebec and Franklin counties is taking the lead on the pilot. Executive Director Chris Bicknell says a network of community partners, created during the first 50 days of the challenge, is exploring effective strategies for identifying homeless youth, referring them into services and creating safety and stability.
He says the second phase is implementation.
“Some of that may involve short-term interventions in the community. We’re looking at host-home models, we’re looking at using our transitional living units in that area, but also trying to engage other community partners in nontraditional ways of supporting homeless youth,” Bicknell says.
He says continuing conflicts at home can eventually lead to homeless and ending up in the shelter system. For a young person in Franklin County the nearest shelter is in Lewiston. Bicknell says the desire is to create a local solution for local youth.
“We want to stop a young person from leaving their community of origin, leaving all their natural supports. We don’t want them to leave their school. We don’t want them to leave their friends. We don’t want them to leave their faith community. We don’t want them to be completely disconnected from their families,” he says.
Bicknell calls homeless youth an invisible population. He says someone who’s couch surfing is actually homeless.
