My articles about organizations helping homeless youth in the city and the suburbs
In the second half of January, I wound up writing not one, but two articles about youth homelessness.
The first article was something I wanted to do for a while. Back in 2015, I wrote an article for Austin Weekly News about a Chicago non-profit's plan to build a homeless shelter in North Lawndale specifically for LGBT youth. Which was a big deal, because LGBT-orientated services on the West Side of Chicago can be counted with a single hand. And, over a year later, I wrote another article about Night Ministry, an LGBT-friendly non-profit that already operates several shelters for homeless youth, building a completely separate homeless shelter in North Lawndale. since then, I've wanted to do a follow-up to see how those projects are doing and, in January, which tends to be a slow month when it comes to news, especially community news, I finally got the chance.
(Full disclosure for those who don't know it already - my mom volunteers at Night Ministry's West Town youth shelter, and even before that, she donated to them quite a bit over the years)
The second article happened almost by accident. I was aware that there was a spaghetti dinner fundraiser for one of the suburban school districts I cover for Niles Bugle, but it wasn't until I got a message from the director of Niles Chamber of Commerce and Industry that I realized that the dinner was raising money specifically for homeless students.
Now, you have to understand - homelessness in the suburbs is one of those things I wish I could write more about but rarely get a chance to. Because we have this idea that poverty and homelessness simply don't exist in the suburbs. Now, you don't have to dig very deep to figure out that it's not true, but you have to actually be willing to pay attention. And I do think people should pay attention. Because people don't know its a problem, those issues fly under the radar, and it becomes this sort of a self-reinforcing stigma. I mean, nobody likes to talk about being homeless, but when you're homeless in a place where homelessness isn't supposed to exist... Plus, there is the whole thing how it becomes all that much easier to say, "well, why should we help the homeless? It doesn't affect us." And you get people complaining about how all of the public aid goes to Chicago, and why should my taxes pay for their food or their housing... I mean, this sort of mindset is fucked up to begin with, because you shouldn't have to have a personal stake in something to want to help, but I think that if people realize that, even in the richest communities in Chicagoland and other metropolitan areas, there are people who are struggling to make it, there are people who sleep in their cars and on their friends' couches, you might get a bit more empathy.
So, suffice to say, once I got this e-mail, I asked if I could cover the event, figuring that, even if it's too late, I can do a follow-up later. But, luckily for me... It took a few twists and turns, but I got in. And I got an article out of it.
As I commented on Twitter, one of the most legitimately terrifying moments was when I looked at homeless statistics and started converting seemingly small percentages into numbers. Since numbers usually came out with decimal points, I had to approximate. But... even knowing what i know, converting percentages into numbers was upsetting. Because suddenly, those numbers became a lot less abstract.
The Evanston Township High School District 202, 40.8 percent of the students are low income and 5 percent of the students (or about 166-167 students) are homeless. New Trier Township High School District 203, which serves North Shore villages of Wilmette, Kenilworth, Winnetka and Glencoe, as well as most of the village of Northfield and parts of Glenview, 3.3 percent of the students are low income and 0.1 percent (or around 4 students) are homeless. Northfield Township High School District 225, which serves the rest of Glenview and suburbs further north, 14.4 percent of the students are low income and 0.3 percent (or about 15 students) are homeless.
Like I said - the issue is more universal than you think.
The first article was something I wanted to do for a while. Back in 2015, I wrote an article for Austin Weekly News about a Chicago non-profit's plan to build a homeless shelter in North Lawndale specifically for LGBT youth. Which was a big deal, because LGBT-orientated services on the West Side of Chicago can be counted with a single hand. And, over a year later, I wrote another article about Night Ministry, an LGBT-friendly non-profit that already operates several shelters for homeless youth, building a completely separate homeless shelter in North Lawndale. since then, I've wanted to do a follow-up to see how those projects are doing and, in January, which tends to be a slow month when it comes to news, especially community news, I finally got the chance.
(Full disclosure for those who don't know it already - my mom volunteers at Night Ministry's West Town youth shelter, and even before that, she donated to them quite a bit over the years)
The second article happened almost by accident. I was aware that there was a spaghetti dinner fundraiser for one of the suburban school districts I cover for Niles Bugle, but it wasn't until I got a message from the director of Niles Chamber of Commerce and Industry that I realized that the dinner was raising money specifically for homeless students.
Now, you have to understand - homelessness in the suburbs is one of those things I wish I could write more about but rarely get a chance to. Because we have this idea that poverty and homelessness simply don't exist in the suburbs. Now, you don't have to dig very deep to figure out that it's not true, but you have to actually be willing to pay attention. And I do think people should pay attention. Because people don't know its a problem, those issues fly under the radar, and it becomes this sort of a self-reinforcing stigma. I mean, nobody likes to talk about being homeless, but when you're homeless in a place where homelessness isn't supposed to exist... Plus, there is the whole thing how it becomes all that much easier to say, "well, why should we help the homeless? It doesn't affect us." And you get people complaining about how all of the public aid goes to Chicago, and why should my taxes pay for their food or their housing... I mean, this sort of mindset is fucked up to begin with, because you shouldn't have to have a personal stake in something to want to help, but I think that if people realize that, even in the richest communities in Chicagoland and other metropolitan areas, there are people who are struggling to make it, there are people who sleep in their cars and on their friends' couches, you might get a bit more empathy.
So, suffice to say, once I got this e-mail, I asked if I could cover the event, figuring that, even if it's too late, I can do a follow-up later. But, luckily for me... It took a few twists and turns, but I got in. And I got an article out of it.
As I commented on Twitter, one of the most legitimately terrifying moments was when I looked at homeless statistics and started converting seemingly small percentages into numbers. Since numbers usually came out with decimal points, I had to approximate. But... even knowing what i know, converting percentages into numbers was upsetting. Because suddenly, those numbers became a lot less abstract.
The Evanston Township High School District 202, 40.8 percent of the students are low income and 5 percent of the students (or about 166-167 students) are homeless. New Trier Township High School District 203, which serves North Shore villages of Wilmette, Kenilworth, Winnetka and Glencoe, as well as most of the village of Northfield and parts of Glenview, 3.3 percent of the students are low income and 0.1 percent (or around 4 students) are homeless. Northfield Township High School District 225, which serves the rest of Glenview and suburbs further north, 14.4 percent of the students are low income and 0.3 percent (or about 15 students) are homeless.
Like I said - the issue is more universal than you think.