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Rusty Booker shakes hands with Rep. John Yarmuth.

Rep. John Yarmuth (D-Ky.) announced today that he and Rep. Judy Biggert (R-Ill.) will introduce the Reconnecting Homeless Youth Act tomorrow in Congress. The announcement was held at YMCA Safe Place Services, the agency that serves runaway and homeless youth in Louisville, Ky. Here are some additional details from Monday's event:

Yarmuth Announces Major Legislation to Strengthen Programs helping Runaway & Homeless Youth Introduction of five-year authorization comes after Louisvillians testify in Washington Office of Congressman John Yarmuth, 03/03/08

Today, Congressman John Yarmuth (KY-3) announced his new legislation to reauthorize and strengthen the Runaway and Homeless Youth Act, which is the main source of federal funding for disconnected youth outside of the foster care and juvenile justice system. The current law expires at September 30, 2008.

For too long, despite the best efforts from within the community, the government has been failing millions of kids, Yarmuth said. Thanks to the work and expertise that we have right here in Louisville, the Reconnecting Homeless Youth Act will refocus our resources and give America a real shot to eradicate youth homelessness forever.

There are far too many young people that need help but are not aware of the services offered through runaway and homeless youth shelters, said Sandy Bowen, executive director of National Safe Place. The reauthorization of the Runaway and Homeless Youth Act, with an increased appropriation, allows for additional outreach work to occur at local levels to prevent young people from running from home. Reaching youth earlier significantly impacts their opportunities for positive outcomes to difficult situations.

Funds from Runaway and Homeless Youth Act provide about 20 percent of our annual budget, said Dennis Enix, Executive Director of YMCA Safe Place, Without this funding source we would not be able to provide the support that young people and their families desperately need in our community.

The bill's introduction is the latest step in a process in which Louisville has played a key role. Last July, Yarmuth invited Louisvillian, Rusty Booker, then 17, to testify at the Subcommittee on Healthy Families and Communities' hearing on Runaway, Homeless, and Missing Children: Perspectives on Helping the Nation's Vulnerable Youth. Rusty testified click here to watch testimony about his own experience with abuse, running away at the age of 12, his placement in five failed foster homes, and finally finding a path to independence with the help of Safe Place.

I had no family and no home and at this point, no future, Rusty said in his testimony. When I got to the shelter the staff welcomed me. I felt safe for the first time in many years. Rusty, now 18, is working toward his GED and plans to attend college soon.

Each day we meet four or five new Rustys, and each year we serve approximately 800 kids and their families through our shelter, said Bill Thompson, residential case manager for YMCA Safe Place Services who accompanied Rusty to Washington and first began working with him in 2002. Reauthorizing RHYA will allow us to not only better the services that already exist, but will allow us and other agencies across the country to serve more kids just like Rusty every year.

Rusty's testimony and a local forum the Congressman hosted on disconnected youth helped Yarmuth craft the Reconnecting Homeless Youth Act, which he will introduce this Tuesday with Congresswoman Judy Biggert (R-IL-13).

This legislation reauthorizes and strengthens the federal runaway and homeless youth programs for five years, authorizing an increase of over 50 percent more than last year; $150 million for residential services and $3 million for runaway prevention. The measure will improve outreach and preventative care, establish emergency management plans, and develop a national runaway and homeless youth research and evaluation agenda.

Check back later this week when we will take a deeper look at some of the details in the new legislation.

Here's a lead-in story to tomorrow's announcement from Rep. John Yarmuth (D-Ky.) of new legislation that would reauthorize the Runaway and Homeless Youth Act.

Federal Program that Helps Thousands of Runaways Could End WDRB-41 (FOX), 03/01/08

Funds could soon go away that would otherwise help some of the thousands of children and teens who run away from home every year. Right now, there are several hundred places across the city where runaways can go and get help but a federal program that makes that possible is about to end.

Rusty Booker, Homeless youth says, "I had no family and no home and at this point, no future." 18-year-old Booker of Louisville testified before a U.S. House Subcommittee in Washington DC recently. Booker says, "My stepfather came home every night drunk and would beat my mom." After running away from home at the age of 12. Rusty spent the next several years on the streets of Louisville and in and out of foster care.

Josh Abner is communications director for National Safe Place. Booker says, "I went to a library that had a safe place sign on the front." The organization has helped Rusty and thousands of other runaway and homeless teens across Kentuckiana.

Abner says, "Of those one to three million young people who are runaway and homeless every year approximately half of them list family problems are the number one reason why that they fled their situation or why they're homeless." Abner says safe place provides temporary housing for runaways but the ultimate goal is to return them to their homes.

"The young people who we're able to serve we're able to reunited approximately 90 percent of those families." Abner continues. Congressman John Yarmuth says, "If we don't act now these services which have meant so much to so many people like Rusty will not be operative."

3rd District Congressman Yarmuth is working on legislation that will continue the main source of federal funding for runaway and homeless youth. Yarmuth says, "This will be a program that will be a hundred and $50 million nationwide per year."

The money will be used to fund a number of programs including safe place. A place Rusty Booker believes changed his life. Booker says, "When I got to the shelter the staff welcomed me. I felt safe for the first time in many years."

On Monday, Congressman John Yarmuth will announce new legislation to continue the Runaway and Homeless Youth Act.

Click here to watch the full story.

This is exciting news for those who work with runaway and homeless youth. Check back Monday more details of the proposed legislation are released.

This media advisory just came from Rep. John Yarmuth's office on the reauthorization of the Runaway and Homeless Youth Act (RHYA).

This Monday, Congressman John Yarmuth (KY-3) will announce his new legislation to reauthorize and strengthen the Runaway and Homeless Youth Act, the main source of federal funding for disconnected youth outside of the foster care and juvenile justice system.

Last July, Yarmuth invited Louisvillian, Rusty Booker to testify before the Subcommittee on Healthy Families and Communities hearing on "Runaway, Homeless, and Missing Children: Perspectives on Helping the Nation's Vulnerable Youth." Rusty testified click here to watch testimony about his own experience with abuse, running away at the age of 12, his placement in five failed foster homes, and finally finding a path to independence with the help of Safe Place. Rusty will be attending college in the fall.

Rusty's testimony and a local forum the Congressman hosted on disconnected youth helped Yarmuth craft the Reconnecting Homeless Youth Act, which he will introduce this Tuesday with Congresswoman Judy Biggert (R-IL-13).

This legislation reauthorizes and strengthens the federal runaway and homeless youth programs for five years and provides $150 million for residential services and $3 million for runaway prevention. The measure will improve outreach, establish emergency management plans, and develop a national runaway and homeless youth research and evaluation agenda.

Rusty and Bill Thompson, Residential Case Manager for YMCA Safe Place Services, will reunite with Yarmuth for Monday's announcement

This is great news for the runaway and homeless youth community. An increase of the total authorization level to $150 million would represent more than a 42 percent increase from the last stated authorization level of $105 million for fiscal year 2004. This follows level-funding of RHY programs between $102-104 million from fiscal years 2002-2007. Only since the Rep. Yarmuth has taken the lead on this legislation have we seen any appopriations increase (fiscal year 2008 = $113 million) in recent years.

Check back Monday for more updates.

I just wanted to write a quick post about another great new?novel that touches on the issue of runaway and homeless youth. Charles Bock's, "Beautiful Children," (published by Random House) focuses on the street culture of Las Vegas and debuted at No. 27 on the New York Times Best Seller list, quite an achievement for any author, let alone someone penning their first novel. The book centers around the disappearance of 12-year-old Newell Ewing. Bock doesn't duck punches on the issues surrounding youth who are forced to the streets -- dumpster diving for meals, drug use etc. -- and brings in a wealth of characters to show the not-so-glitzy side of Sin City that tourists rarely see.

Critical praise is piling up as The New York Times, USA Today and Newsweek, among others, have all written glowing reviews. If you visit the book's Web site by Feb. 29 you can download "Beautiful Children" for free in its ENTIRETY. If you don't make it to the site in time to download the entire book, you can still read the first chapter here.

The release of "Beautiful Children" comes on the heels of Jessica Blank's debut young adult novel "Almost Home" (Hyperion Books for Children) that focuses on seven homeless teens in L.A. living together in a makeshift family (Full disclosure: Blank serves on the board of directors for National Safe Place). "Almost Home" came out in October with the first chapter available on the National Safe Place Web site.

Both books offer a poignant look at youth in crisis, but also offer solutions with resource sections that include links to national runaway and homeless youth organizations such as the National Runaway Switchboard, Covenant House and National Safe Place. "Almost Home" is already being fast-tracked for the big screen after rock star/homeless advocate Jon Bon Jovi purchased the film rights and plans to make it his first movie project from behind the camera.

These two books, coupled with other efforts in the past year such as Virgin Mobile's "Homeless Youth Among Us" campaign with singer Jewel as a spokeswoman, have significantly raised the profile of runaway and homeless youth. This added exposure couldn't come at a better time with Congress set to consider reauthorization of the Runaway and Homeless Youth Act in the coming weeks.