Topic: Safety Net Update (7 posts)

Friday, June 18th, 2010 Singer Jimmy Wayne kicks off the 'Hot Country Nights' concert series at 4^th Street Live. This rising star has a devoted following of fans who not only are driving miles to watch him perform, but they are also emulating his passionate work for helping youth in need.

Friday afternoon a group of Jimmy Wayne fans are helping YMCA Safe Place Services in their time of need. Last week, significant water damaged the boy's dormitory area of the shelter and clean up is still underway. To help finish the restoration process, fans are gathering at the shelter at noon for lunch and then getting to work helping repaint the dorm.

"I knew a lot of fans would be driving in for the show and I thought it would be fun doing some type of work project at a local facility and a great opportunity to get to know each other," said Nicole Osmera, Regional Leader of the Meet Me Halfway Street Team.

The Meet Me Halfway Street Team are followers of Jimmy Wayne's Meet Me Halfway Campaign. Beginning on January 1, 2010 Jimmy Wayne set out on a journey to walk halfway across the United States to raise awareness about Homeless Youth and Foster Care.

"Here I am living life. I'm comfortable. I'd been on the Brad Paisley tour for a lot of the year, and I just didn't feel like I'd done anything to make a difference. I got to thinking, and I said, 'What if I walk halfway across the country to raise awareness [about youth who age out of the foster care system with nowhere to go]?'" Wayne states on the Meet Me Halfway Campaign website: www.projectmmh.org.

Since he has started his walk, fans have formed regional street teams across the country to support him and the cause; gaining awareness through social media and their website. The Meet Me Halfway Southern Region Street Team will be showing their support by volunteering from 12-4 PM at the YMCA Safe Place Services Shelter 2400 Crittenden Drive.

Zach Bonner, the 11-year-old walking to raise awareness for homeless youth from his home in Tampa, has arrived at his final stop in Washington, DC. The Washington Post profiles him as one of a growing number of young philanthropists. [Atlanta Constitution Journal] [Washington Post]


LifePlace and Forsaken Generation, a youth homeless awareness project, have begun "The Revolution Tour," a summer concert tour that kicks off in Syracuse, NY on July 25. Additional cities include New York, Los Angeles, Buffalo, Cincinnati, Jacksonville, Tampa, Orlando, Miami, Dallas and Tulsa. Safe Place programs in these cities take note of the possible opportunity: proceeds from the tour will benefit runaway and homeless youth shelters in the concert cities. [Eagle Newspapers] [LifePlace / Forsaken Generation]


Peter Rankaitis, executive director of Project Oz, the Safe Place agency in Bloomington, Ill., is quoted in a Youth Today story detailing deep cuts and their impact to the state's social service network. Rankaitis says that the Illinois now provides less actual dollars for his organization's runaway and homeless youth services than it did in 2000. [Youth Today]



Youth Services of Tulsa and its transitional living program are featured as the agency celebrates its 40th anniversary. Story highlights that 409 youth asked for help at a Safe Place location and were connected to YST in 2007. [Tulsa World]


Police in Clearwater, Fla. arrested four men who had sex with a 12-year-old runaway girl. [CBS News]


New Roads, the rebuilt downtown facility for Looking Glass, has opened. Looking Glass is the organization that manages Safe Place in Eugene, Ore. [Eugene Register-Guard]


The local Kiwanis Club in Stillwater, Okla. is supporting the Payne Co. Safe Place program. [Stillwater News Press]


Chicago ABC affiliate speaks with Steve Simpson, youth advocate and author of "Runaway," about how to speak with children during the economic downturn. [WLS]


All-State in Columbia, Mo. has awarded Central Missouri Community Action, a local homeless youth provider, with a $1,000 grant after five interns worked as investigative reporters on local nonprofits to select the recipient [KOMU]


Urban Opportunities ? a job-readiness program for at-risk and homeless youth in Portland, Ore. ? and social enterprise efforts through its pink mobile doughnut van are profiled. [The Oregonian]


Three San Antonio youth from a local transitional living program are receiving job training from Ruth's Chris Steakhouse. [San Antonio News-Express]


Kathy Lauer-Williams uses her column to present possible options for an Allentown, Penn. family to support their 14-year-old daughter who has run away but returned home on two occasions. [Allentown Morning Call]


The Youth Service Bureau in South Bend, Ind. is seeking volunteers for its street outreach program. [South Bend Tribune]

Youth Services of Tulsa, the area's Safe Place provider, will celebrate its 40th anniversary on July 16.
[Bixby Bulletin]

Looking Glass Family and Youth Services, the Safe Place agency in Eugene, Ore., will move into a rebuilt facility this week after a fire destroyed the building last year. [Register-Guard] [KVAL]

LifeWorks, a runaway and homeless youth provider in Austin, Tex., will hold a "White Party" to support its Street Outreach program. [News 8 Austin]

Pathways Homeless Youth Center is recruiting sites to become "Lemon Aid" stands to support the Milwaukee-area shelter. [WISN]

Sparky Harlan, executive director of the Bill Wilson Center, the Safe Place agency in Santa Clara, Calif., blogs about the "grand slam" service a 15-year-old resident received from the shelter. [Sparky's blog]

Harriet Boorhem, president of Promise House, the Safe Place agency in Dallas, discusses local fundraising for the 2011 Super Bowl in Dallas and asks that the community consider additional options for its support. [Harriet's blog]

A brother and sister, ages 10 and 6, were rescued south of Louisville by a Good Samaritan after running from their abusive home. The mother and her boyfriend have been arrested. [WAVE]

A registered sex offender in Tampa was arrested after police said he had sex with a 16-year-old runaway girl. [Tampa Tribune]

A runaway boy from Gwinnett, Ga. drowned while in West Virginia. [Gwinnett Daily Post]

President Obama has nominated Bryan Samuels, Chief of Staff for Chicago Public Schools and former director of the Illinois Dept. of Children and Family Services, to serve as HHS's Commissioner of the Administration on Children, Youth and Families. [White House press release] [Youth Today, reg. req.]

A new study of 20,000 youth published in the July issue of Pediatrics show that 15 percent feel that they will die young, leading many to unsafe behaviors including drug use and suicide attempts. [Huffington Post] [Pediatrics, study PDF]

Virgin Mobile's FreeFest, a musical festival set for Aug. 30 in Columbia, Md., has set aside 3,000 tickets for those willing to volunteer their time for homeless youth and will ask all concert goers to donate $5 to homeless youth. [USA Today]

Associated Press profiles MetEast High School in Camden, NJ. The school has no dropouts and each student has been accepted into at least one college. [AP]

State officials in Florida anticipate that a change to the state's zero tolerance policy in schools will divert children from the state's juvenile justice system. [Cape Coral Daily Breeze]

Martha Stone, director of the Center for Children's Advocacy, blasts Conn. Gov. Jodi Rell's proposed cuts to the state's youth service system. [Hartford Courant]

First Place for Youth, California's largest program for foster care youth who aging out of the system, is profiled. [San Francisco Chronicle]

Briarpatch, an agency in Madison, Wis. that serves runaways and other youth in crisis, has served their 10,000th client. [WISC]

Oklahoma State University's transit system has joined with Payne Co. Youth Services and will serve as mobile Safe Places for youth throughout the Stillwater area. [OSU Press release]

32 homeless teens receiving McKinney-Vento funded services were among the list of high school graduates in Syracuse, NY this year. [Syracuse Post-Standard]

The number of homeless students in Rhode Island jumped 43 percent during the 2007-08 school year and are expected to be even higher for the current year. [Providence Journal]

A documentary on homeless youth in Seattle titled "When the Streets Are Your Home" is set to air Tuesday on KIRO. [KIRO Press Release]

A Las Vegas fashion designer, Lana Fuchs, is helping area homeless teens find work and recruiting other businesses to help as well. [KVVU]

Nearly 30,000 teens in foster care "age out," or leave without being adopted or reunited with relatives, of the system each year. USA Today profiles savings plans that are helping these youth with financial education and providing a foundation for life on their own. [USA Today]

Safe Place set to begin in Springfield, Mo. this August. Congrats to The Kitchen, Inc. on bringing the local transit system and all QuikTrip convenience stores as Safe Place sites. [Springfield News-Leader]

Youth homelessness is on the rise in the greater Cincinnati area. Brighton Center, the Safe Place agency in Northern Ky., discusses their 35 increase in homeless youth contacts. [WLWT]

Samuel Henry, chairman of the Oregon Commission on Children and Families, touts the state's prevention efforts and their impact in saving taxpayer dollars while helping youth and families. [The Oregonian]

Connecticut: Early intervention into the lives of troubled youth has lead to a 30 percent decrease in the number of juvenile justice cases. [Greenwich Time]

The state of Maine passed a bill this week marking its commitment to serving runaway and homeless youth. [WABI]

Change.org and Minnesota Public Radio tells Valenica's story of homelessness since 10th grade. [Change.org]