Loveland Homeless Youth Point-in-Time Count/Survey Report

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- 10 -Dropped Out:Received GED 5No Diploma or GED_9____Not Succeeded 14 (78%)The Colorado Department of Education reported the following dropout rates for theacademic year 2001-2002:Loveland High School 2.9%Thompson Valley High School 2.5%Mountain View High School 3.7%Average 3.0%Utilization of SheltersThe homeless youth of Loveland choose not utilize the adult shelters in Loveland and Ft.Collins. This is exactly in line with national and local trends. Youth under the age of 18cannot use adult shelters. In a recent focus group of 10 homeless clients of the ColoradoSprings Urban Peak, the youth reported that those clients who are old enough to enter theadult shelters report feeling unsafe and preyed upon. The youth emphasized the need forservices that recognize their unique set of circumstances, where they do not feeldiscouraged or discriminated against. They believe that homeless adults are oftencomplacent and are not as eager to change their futures, and cannot provide relevantadvice or mentorship. Like many teens, homeless youth are faced with the expectation ofadult responsibilities but still struggle to be taken seriously.“Older people on the street are set in their whiskey; this doesn’t help us to leave thestreets. Adult programs are designed to remind adults how to be an adult. Youthprograms are designed to teach us and show us how.” – Tech, 19“Adult shelters are scary and full of predators. Old men hit on you, your things getstolen, people are doing drugs all the time. There’s a lot of reasons you can’t go there.”- Emily, 19“We still want to do something with ourselves. We need people who understand youthand have experience with youth.” –Pam, 19Since there are no licensed homeless youth shelters in Larimer County it is not surprisingthat only one youth, who went to Boulder, reported utilizing a youth shelter.EmploymentThe Colorado Department of Labor reports that the unemployment rate for April 2003 forthe Ft. Collins / Loveland MSA stood at 5.4%. The youth in our survey report aunemployment rate of 73%, yet indicate a willingness and ability to work since 80% ofthem have held 1-3 jobs in the past year.Copyright 2003 by Urban Peak
- 11 -Services Needed in LovelandMaslow’s Hierarchy of Needs are so apparent when we view the prioritized list ofservices that the homeless youth feel are needed in Loveland. According to Maslowlower level needs must be satisfied before a person can successfully proceed to workingtoward higher level needs. The lowest level of need he entitled Physiological Needs,such as air, water, food, and sleep. The next level up is Safety, which includes the safetyof home and family. We cannot expect our homeless youth to successfully pursuehigher-level achievement until they have food, water, employment (money for food &water & shelter), and personal safety.Other CommentsIn hindsight, a question that should have been asked on the survey is “What is the drug ofchoice in Loveland?” Questions similar to this were frequently asked verbally and anastounding 100% of the answers were “Crystal Meth” (meth amphetamines). Methamphetamines are not only incredibly dangerous to the user, but the production of thisdrug is quite volatile and can endanger the makers, family, friends, and neighbors. Whenasked why this drug was so popular in Loveland, the most common answer was “there’snothing to do here”.The surveying teams were frequently told by homeless youth and non-homeless youththat there is consistent travel by homeless youth between Loveland and Ft. Collins.When asked about travel to other cities such as Greeley, Longmont, Boulder, Denver, etc.and the youth indicated that these locations were not as popular as Ft. Collins. Ft.Collins’ “old town” and the free summer concerts were mentioned as popular destinationsRecommendationsThe City of Loveland and the Loveland Homeless Task Force continue to do the rightthings by investing their time, effort, and resources into learning about the homeless andrunaway youth issues in Loveland. The results of this point-in-time homeless youthcount and other statistics, such as the number of verified runaways, warrants further stepsbe taken to improve the opportunities for safety and healthy youth development inLoveland. Urban Peak specifically recommends the following steps:• Immediately hire a Homeless Youth Outreach Specialist that will invest 2-3days/evenings per week locating, engaging, and referring homeless and runawayyouth to existing resources/services; this Specialist will also gather furtherinformation relevant to analyzing the needs of this population and identifying theresources/services that are currently available or that need to be created or foundin order to allow these youth to help themselves.• Explore with the City of Ft. Collins and private organizations in Ft. Collins theirwillingness to conduct a similar Point-in-Time Count/Survey of homeless &runaway youth this August or September; this timing will assure the maximumrelevance of the Ft. Collins information and positive impact on the homeless andrunaway youth that travel between these two cities.• Consider partnering with Ft. Collins by sharing the Homeless Youth OutreachSpecialist; this will allow the hiring of a fulltime outreach staff person, maximizeCopyright 2003 by Urban Peak
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Loveland Homeless Youth Point-in-Time Count/Survey Report

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