Who We Are
Do you ever notice the teens who hang around downtown? Or, the kid who your kid brings home for dinner but doesn’t seem to have any where to go when it’s time to go home? Or, that niece or nephew, or your child’s friend, that sleeps on your couch a few months out of the year – struggling through high school or college while their mom and dad are in jail or rehab. Without a regular, fixed, nighttime residence, these teens are homeless, having to worry about warmth, danger, hunger and loneliness instead of learning, studying, going to prom and graduating from high school. How will they break the cycle of poverty?
In the state of Nevada, there are no government dollars designated specifically to support basic needs for homeless teens. Only system-driven services are currently available (case management, referrals, little financial assistance and food pantry access). Homeless teens are typically between 17-21 years old. They are unprepared to live on their own. They are unsupported and/or parent-less.
Many homeless youth are former foster children or young people who should have been pulled into the child welfare system but were able to stay under the radar prior to their 18th birthday by couch surfing, travelling, and avoiding involvement with authorities. A majority of these teens are unable to care for themselves and do not posses the necessary success skills or behaviors, so until they are stabilized with basic needs, they cannot hope to make a significant change to their situation.
Nevada Youth Empowerment Project (NYEP), a 501©3 non-profit organization, is a leader in developing residential independent living programming for older teenage youth. For over four years, NYEP has provided its innovative Community Living Program (CLP) to transitioned aged teens to develop them to self sufficiency. The CLP is referred to by many youth providers in the community as a “model program”.
NYEP does not serve hundreds of teens each year. Instead, we use a quality, comprehensive approach where we serve no more than 6 residents at a time for a 9-18 month period. Every day, each resident is provided with the type of individualized, professional support they need to move forward in their success plan. Daily support includes material resources, teaching/training, redirecting, monitoring/supportively confronting, processing feelings, ideas, thoughts and beliefs using positive self talk, facilitating group events and mediating situations/instances between peers/roommates/staff/volunteers to ensure a healthy, learning environment.
NYEP has worked with unprepared and parentless teens from all systems of care and institutions, as well as private parents. Each year the number of homeless teens rises, but housing funding sources remain non-existent. NYEP is a passionate leader concerning the needs of homeless teens and the services available to them. It is NYEP’s goal to increase housing programs for teens, including affordable housing and residential programming that will deliver safe, supervised housing, daily supportive transitional housing services, and skills training to residents to ensure program success (self sufficiency/independence).
It is also NYEP’s goal to advocate for organized, community-wide, performance based services and programming for homeless teens.
Mission
“Nevada Youth Empowerment Project provides residential and out patient programming and education to prepare willing older youth for independent self sufficient living.”
Our Ultimate Goal
NYEP’s approach to youth service delivery is innovative and falls outside the conventional, traditional supports that have not made much difference in youth outcomes. NYEP’s ultimate goal is to participate in making Washoe County a supportive, youth friendly community. We have become the example we wish to see in the world by facilitating our CLP model which we expect to have lasting, positive impacts on both the individuals it serves and the community as a whole, as a direct result of young people being community contributors instead of standing in food pantry lines, accessing public welfare, or living in tent city. We have a desire to reverse this trend, one youth at a time.