Jessica Fisher, Public Information Assistant, 509.625.6749
Wednesday, November 21, 2018 at 10:04 a.m.
Photo by ANW
Every year, more than 13,000 youth experience homelessness in the state of Washington. A Way Home Washington (AWHWA) and the Office of Homeless Youth have launched the Anchor Community Initiative to end youth homelessness in four Washington communities by 2022.
Spokane was one of the four communities selected for the Anchor Community Initiative! Our team is composed of representatives from homeless youth service providers, local government, public education, substance use treatment providers, data evaluation experts, and youth with lived experience of homelessness. Together we will develop a plan to transform services for homeless youth and young adults in Spokane so that when a young person says, “Yes, I want help getting off of the streets,” we can then say, “Yes, come inside and we will get you off of those streets.”
We want to build a youth homeless crisis response system where no young person is forced to sleep outdoors or in unsafe situations due to lack of resources. This system must include resources for prevention; emergency response; long-term housing; as well as supports for education, employment, and behavioral health.
Throughout the initiative we will be sharing what’s working and what’s not with A Way Home Washington and the other Anchor Communities to embed what is learned in our community in the state-wide system we are all helping to build. The goal is that the Anchor Community Initiative will help build a statewide system that is data-informed, performance-based, mission-driven, and holds young people and families at the center. The City of Spokane is thrilled to be participating in an initiative that will benefit the entire state of Washington.
The Spokane community will launch the Anchor Community Initiative on Tuesday, Dec. 11. Stay up to date on the Anchor Community Initiative by following us on Twitter @EveryYouthToday!
