Meet Our Youth

Youth homelessness in Illinois and Chicago is a persistent crisis. A 2005 study by the University of Illinois at Chicago shows that in a one-year period 25,000 youth in Illinois between the ages of 12 and 21 experience homelessness.

Teen Living Programs serve youth ages 12 to 24 who became homeless because of serious family issues, including substance abuse, and physical or sexual abuse. Many are ostracized due to their sexual orientation. While escaping these situations and leaving their homes may provide temporary relief, life on the streets carries the serious threat of increased suffering from predators, disease, and greater physical deprivation.

Despite all of this, here’s how our youth describe themselves: amazing, different, unique, resilient, self-motivated, determined, loving, caring, persevering—or, as one youth put it, "Teens struggling with the issues of life." In this way, they’re not unlike many other American teenagers.

Our youth are: 56% female, 44% male; 85% African-American, 7% Caucasian, 5% Hispanic, and 2% of other ethnicities. About half of our youth identify as LGBTQ.

Click here to read our amazing client stories.