Anita
and the O.N.E. Troops
Hundreds of kids in Minnesota
are struggling to experience dignity, safety and hope. The LSS program,
“Oh No! Eighteen” (O.N.E.), teaches independent-living skills to youths
ages 15-20, in St. Louis and Carlton Counties, and strives to instill
readiness and hope for kids who are fast-becoming adults. O.N.E., which
began 16 years ago, works mainly with youths who have been in out-of-home
placement such as foster care, shelter or a residential treatment center,
and are aging out of that safety net. They are learning about such things
as budgeting, cooking, healthy relationships and conflict resolution —
important tools for living successfully in the real world.
For more than four years, the
O.N.E. program has also helped youths become established in their own
apartments within the community. A companion LSS housing program has
offered intensive help to about 10 to 12 youths a year — and O.N.E.
program case managers have assisted them in finding apartments and
furnishing them with donated items. The program has paid the first month's
rent, the security deposit and a portion of the monthly rent; and,
gradually, the young people assumed a greater share of the payments until
they were self-supporting.
LSS staff have continued to
provide support as these new renters worked toward goals — such as
completing high school, enrolling in post-secondary training, or finding
work — acknowledging that such milestones go hand-in-hand with basic
living needs.
Now, a federal funding cut
means that there isn't enough money to pay for the housing program.
Without help with rent, three young women probably will have to leave
their apartments. Two are moms and one is pregnant — and all have worked
hard to get their lives on track. They're in school, taking parenting
classes and doing everything they need to be doing to make it right.
“We've been in a bit of a
panic trying to raise funds to keep them in housing through this school
year,” the program manager reports. “Recent donations will help them
through January, but we hope to find enough money to get them through June
and complete the school year — even longer, if they need it to become
self-supporting. If we can't help them pay the rent, they will be
homeless.”
The mother of a 10-week-old
son and a high school senior, Anita talks about how she worries that soon
she and her son might have no place to live. Her one-bedroom apartment in
Duluth's Central Hillside isn't fancy, but it's clean, safe and, for
nearly six months, it has been Anita's home. She doesn't want to lose it.
She relies on the LSS program to help pay her bills.
“This is my first apartment,”
Anita explains. “I needed a safer place.” Her dream is to continue her
schooling and find a career where she can work with people (like becoming
a psychiatrist, pediatrician or cosmetologist).
That’s good stuff, but here’s
what really tells the tale! Other youths who have been through the O.N.E.
program are trying to help. More significant than their successful
doughnut sale has been the tireless commitment of 22 young people and LSS
staff members to demonstrate the needs of the homeless by sleeping outside
in boxes at two churches this month — one in Duluth, and one in Virginia.
They’ve heard that in order to keep the three women in their current
apartments, $1,500 a month will be needed. The resulting pledges and
outright donations have made a statement, with these kids, that the people
of Minnesota do, indeed, care about the children.
