The Huffington Post: Sasha Bruce Youthwork Copes With Funding Cuts Amid Growing Youth Homelessness
In a story on youth homelessness and budget cuts that may affect preventive services, The Huffington Post includes a quote from Children’s Law Center’s executive director Judith Sandalow. Reporter Chelsea Kiene relays concerns from Sasha Bruce Youthwork, which provides shelter, counseling, and prevention programs to homeless youth and those at-risk of becoming homeless.
Sasha Bruce partners with the city to provide some of these services, but has recently seen funding cuts. Young people who are homeless, including young adults who age out of foster care, are at-risk for other ill effects, including unemployment, incarceration, victimization, drug addiction, and extremely poor health. It is much more expensive for a jurisdiction to provide social services to adults facing these challenges than it is to provide prevention services to young people, which Sandalow noted.
“We certainly have way too many youth who are homeless, both with their families and on their own, and we don’t serve them very well,” Sandalow told The Huffington Post. “We need to do more to [prevent] trauma upfront by making children’s lives safer and healthier, and that will both help raise more productive adults and save the city money in the long run.”