Fiona Jack of Covenant House took students through a presentation called “Before You Run,” a program designed to keep kids from running to the street.

Raising Awareness of Youth Homelessness

Kate Raven
By Kate Raven, Communications officer
 
A speaker from Covenant House joined us on October 21 to give students a realistic look at street life.
Covenant House is Canada’s largest youth homelessness agency. They provide prevention, crisis care and after care services, and link homeless young people with health care, food, life skills and job skills training, schooling and counselling.
 
Fiona Jack of Covenant House took students through a presentation called “Before You Run,” a program designed to keep kids from running to the street. One of the first things Fiona did was debunk the commonly held stereotype of a homeless person; while many people immediately think of an older man in this context, most of the “hidden homeless” (people without permanent housing) are young people.
 
Fiona went on to share statistics about youth homelessness in Toronto and nationwide (a minimum of 35,000 youth over the course of the year have no place to call home) and the factors that can cause young people to run to the streets. Students heard via video from young people who have lived on the streets about the challenges of street life. Fiona also shared resources students can turn to should they ever need support, and encouraged students to make a difference by being someone their friends can count on and trust.
 
Covenant House will return to Greenwood in early December to provide a series of workshops on youth homelessness to students.
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    • Fiona Jack of Covenant House took students through a presentation called “Before You Run,” a program designed to keep kids from running to the street.

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