If after reading about this "VERY" worthwhile cause, you would like to send a donation, please send checks payable to: CCAP-Homeless Teen Shelter Project, P. O. Box 808, Rockland, ME 04841. Simply Thank you!
Shelter from the Storm
Justin Libby, Zeke Anderson and Tammy Cleaves (l.
to r.), students at the Opportunities Alternative High
School in Rockland, have earned academic credits as
they worked to establish the midcoast area's first
homeless teen shelter.
After three years of planning and raising funds,
students from the Opportunities Alternative High
School are about to purchase a building for a
homeless teen shelter in Rockland.
In the next few weeks, scenes of graduation will be repeated in many high schools
throughout the area. Students will receive scholastic honors and scholarships,
valedictorians and salutatorians will give speeches memorializing their high school years
and exhort their classmates to achieve success in the years to come. There'll be honors
dinners and baccalaureate services, senior banquets and Project Graduation trips, in a
glorious finale to the years of secondary school. Some teens won't be a part of this
scene: for them, it will be life on the street as usual - trying to score yesterday's
leftovers at a fast-food restaurant and hoping to find a safe shelter for the night. In
Maine - "life the way it should be" - and in the relatively affluent midcoast area, on any
given day this is life for 20 to 30 teens who are homeless.
Justin Libby, of St. George, and Tammy Cleaves of Thomaston are two seniors who
will walk across the stage at Georges Valley High School to receive their diplomas in
June, but many of the credits they received to earn that diploma came from their work
in a Course for Common Good. A part of the alternative education curriculum at the
Opportunities Alternative High School in Rockland, this course generated the Homeless
Teen Project, whose goal was the establishment of a permanent shelter, a place their
mission statement describes as "a safe place for a teen to stay when they cannot stay at
home ...a starting place for homeless teens and families to begin to solve their
problems." Over the past three years, students who attended the Opportunities
Alternative school could elect to work on traditional school subjects or could earn
credits in a non-traditional way by taking part in the Homeless Teen Project.
The project first began when educational counselor Diane Webb encouraged her
students at the school to identify a community problem and then find a way to do
something about it. At the top of a list of 10 problems was that of homeless teenagers,
one which the students felt received little attention from adults.
Sitting around a table in one of the freshly painted classrooms on the third floor of the
former McLain School in Rockland, home to both the Opportunities Alternative High
School and the Alternative Minds program for middle school-aged students, Libby,
Cleaves and classmate Zeke Anderson, a junior, describe how their work meshes with
the requirements for high school graduation. While they talk, three other students work
at computer terminals in the next room, one is receiving some help from Bill Gifford,
head of the alternative program, and several are working with an art teacher on the floor
below. Science credits may be had by working at an upcoming garden proposed for the
grounds of Hospitality House, done through the Community Service Project. As Libby
describes it, "We get credits from everywhere possible -from typing, from giving
presentations ..." "We're even getting credit for talking to you," Cleaves adds.
Their typing skills were honed when they sent out letters to foundations and
individuals to raise funds for the shelter, and rather than speaking to a class of their
peers about what they did on their summer vacation, the teens from Opportunities
Alternative were presenting their case to the Rockland City Council, which voted 5-0 to
support their plan and then passed them on to the city planning commission to ask for a
variance for the building the group hoped to buy. The duplex, which is located on South
Main Street in Rockland, is presently owned by the Coastal Community Action Program
(CCAP), but the teens propose to buy out the mortgages, and then renovate the building
so that it will provide sleeping space for a maximum of 16 teens. The three toss about
zoning terms and mortgage plans like the seasoned professionals they have become over
the last year. "The property was zoned Residential B," Cleaves explained, "but we had to
apply for Transitional B One zoning."
It seemed unlikely, two years ago, that a group of kids who formerly had difficulty
even turning in their homework in school would be able to put together a viable plan for
a shelter and then set to work to raise the $350,000 they calculated they would need to
get the project off the ground. Today, they have raised $74,000, enough to purchase the
shelter building, and plan to raise an additional $276,000 - $26,000 to renovate the
shelter, and the remaining $250,000 to fund shelter operations for the first year. Are
they daunted by the huge goal they have set for themselves? "Kids can do anything,"
Cleaves answers. "Kids can even write a letter to Stephen King and ask him for obscene
amounts of money."
The Stephen and Tabitha King Fund has been the biggest source of funds for the
project to date, with a $50,000 dollar donation, the Fisher Foundation gave a $2,000
grant, and $10,000 has been received from personal donations, but the fundraising
efforts of the kids themselves - bottle drives, dances for teens, auctions and raffles -
have brought in over $12,000. Their efforts have been extraordinary, and from them
they have learned many practical lessons about life in the real world.
"Every year we look at this project and ask ourselves if we can do this for another
year," says Margaret Wilson, a full-time teacher at the Opportunities Alternative school.
So far, the students still seem to have plenty of enthusiasm to continue. They have
planned that a partnership of CCAP and Home Counselors, Inc., an outreach group that
goes into the home to attempt to solve the problems of teens and their estranged
families, will oversee the running of the shelter, and feel that future students should
continue fund- raising and sit on the shelter's advisory board. Because they felt they
shared some common goals, the three students talked to a fledgling group in Waldo
County that has been looking into the establishment of a safe-homes network for Waldo
County teens in need of temporary, short-term housing. This group, composed of
concerned young people, human service professionals and representatives of several
area churches, met last Saturday with J.C. Myers, coordinator of the Vermont Coalition
of Homeless Youth Programs, who gave them information about his experiences. Many
of his suggestions are identical to those of the Homeless Teens Project in Rockland: for
example, the need for professional management and provision of human services for
family members. He reported that about 60 percent of the referrals made to the Vermont
network do not result in placements, but rather, start a resolution process that may or
may not be aided by human service professionals. For the 40 percent that are placed in
the Vermont safe homes, most leave within two to eight weeks, either returning to their
former home or finding other living arrangements.
The Waldo County participants agreed by the end of their workshop to begin a grant
application which would be completed by June 15. If the quest for financial support is a
success, they hope to begin development of the Waldo County network in the fall. The
Rockland group hopes they can form a sort of partnership with the safe-homes
network, as they would both use the services of Home Counselors, Inc., and they'd like
to offer them the benefit of their accumulated knowledge, for, as Cleaves pointed out,
"We've gone a long way in three years."
The next fundraising project to be undertaken by the Opportunities Alternative
students is a raffle, planned for June 8, one that offers such items as a family
membership at the Camden Area YMCA, a children's picnic table from Cedarworks and
all kinds of gift certificates. The tickets will go on sale the last two weeks of May, and
can be purchased in area stores, through CCAP,
from advisors to the Homeless Teens Project, or by
calling the Opportunities Alternative program at
594-1209.
This house, on South Main Street in Rockland, could
provide shelter for up to 30 nights for teens who are
experiencing family problems and have no one to help
them.
homepage
If after reading about this "VERY" worthwhile cause, you would like to send a donation, please send checks payable to: CCAP-Homeless Teen Shelter Project, P. O. Box 808, Rockland, ME 04841. Simply Thank you!
Shelter from the Storm
Justin Libby, Zeke Anderson and Tammy Cleaves (l. to r.), students at the Opportunities Alternative High School in Rockland, have earned academic credits as they worked to establish the midcoast area's first homeless teen shelter.
After three years of planning and raising funds, students from the Opportunities Alternative High School are about to purchase a building for a homeless teen shelter in Rockland.
In the next few weeks, scenes of graduation will be repeated in many high schools throughout the area. Students will receive scholastic honors and scholarships, valedictorians and salutatorians will give speeches memorializing their high school years and exhort their classmates to achieve success in the years to come. There'll be honors dinners and baccalaureate services, senior banquets and Project Graduation trips, in a glorious finale to the years of secondary school. Some teens won't be a part of this scene: for them, it will be life on the street as usual - trying to score yesterday's leftovers at a fast-food restaurant and hoping to find a safe shelter for the night. In Maine - "life the way it should be" - and in the relatively affluent midcoast area, on any given day this is life for 20 to 30 teens who are homeless.
Justin Libby, of St. George, and Tammy Cleaves of Thomaston are two seniors who will walk across the stage at Georges Valley High School to receive their diplomas in June, but many of the credits they received to earn that diploma came from their work in a Course for Common Good. A part of the alternative education curriculum at the Opportunities Alternative High School in Rockland, this course generated the Homeless Teen Project, whose goal was the establishment of a permanent shelter, a place their mission statement describes as "a safe place for a teen to stay when they cannot stay at home ...a starting place for homeless teens and families to begin to solve their problems." Over the past three years, students who attended the Opportunities Alternative school could elect to work on traditional school subjects or could earn credits in a non-traditional way by taking part in the Homeless Teen Project.
The project first began when educational counselor Diane Webb encouraged her students at the school to identify a community problem and then find a way to do something about it. At the top of a list of 10 problems was that of homeless teenagers, one which the students felt received little attention from adults.
Sitting around a table in one of the freshly painted classrooms on the third floor of the former McLain School in Rockland, home to both the Opportunities Alternative High School and the Alternative Minds program for middle school-aged students, Libby, Cleaves and classmate Zeke Anderson, a junior, describe how their work meshes with the requirements for high school graduation. While they talk, three other students work at computer terminals in the next room, one is receiving some help from Bill Gifford, head of the alternative program, and several are working with an art teacher on the floor below. Science credits may be had by working at an upcoming garden proposed for the grounds of Hospitality House, done through the Community Service Project. As Libby describes it, "We get credits from everywhere possible -from typing, from giving presentations ..." "We're even getting credit for talking to you," Cleaves adds.
Their typing skills were honed when they sent out letters to foundations and individuals to raise funds for the shelter, and rather than speaking to a class of their peers about what they did on their summer vacation, the teens from Opportunities Alternative were presenting their case to the Rockland City Council, which voted 5-0 to support their plan and then passed them on to the city planning commission to ask for a variance for the building the group hoped to buy. The duplex, which is located on South Main Street in Rockland, is presently owned by the Coastal Community Action Program (CCAP), but the teens propose to buy out the mortgages, and then renovate the building so that it will provide sleeping space for a maximum of 16 teens. The three toss about zoning terms and mortgage plans like the seasoned professionals they have become over the last year. "The property was zoned Residential B," Cleaves explained, "but we had to apply for Transitional B One zoning."
It seemed unlikely, two years ago, that a group of kids who formerly had difficulty even turning in their homework in school would be able to put together a viable plan for a shelter and then set to work to raise the $350,000 they calculated they would need to get the project off the ground. Today, they have raised $74,000, enough to purchase the shelter building, and plan to raise an additional $276,000 - $26,000 to renovate the shelter, and the remaining $250,000 to fund shelter operations for the first year. Are they daunted by the huge goal they have set for themselves? "Kids can do anything," Cleaves answers. "Kids can even write a letter to Stephen King and ask him for obscene amounts of money."
The Stephen and Tabitha King Fund has been the biggest source of funds for the project to date, with a $50,000 dollar donation, the Fisher Foundation gave a $2,000 grant, and $10,000 has been received from personal donations, but the fundraising efforts of the kids themselves - bottle drives, dances for teens, auctions and raffles - have brought in over $12,000. Their efforts have been extraordinary, and from them they have learned many practical lessons about life in the real world.
"Every year we look at this project and ask ourselves if we can do this for another year," says Margaret Wilson, a full-time teacher at the Opportunities Alternative school. So far, the students still seem to have plenty of enthusiasm to continue. They have planned that a partnership of CCAP and Home Counselors, Inc., an outreach group that goes into the home to attempt to solve the problems of teens and their estranged families, will oversee the running of the shelter, and feel that future students should continue fund- raising and sit on the shelter's advisory board. Because they felt they shared some common goals, the three students talked to a fledgling group in Waldo County that has been looking into the establishment of a safe-homes network for Waldo County teens in need of temporary, short-term housing. This group, composed of concerned young people, human service professionals and representatives of several area churches, met last Saturday with J.C. Myers, coordinator of the Vermont Coalition of Homeless Youth Programs, who gave them information about his experiences. Many of his suggestions are identical to those of the Homeless Teens Project in Rockland: for example, the need for professional management and provision of human services for family members. He reported that about 60 percent of the referrals made to the Vermont network do not result in placements, but rather, start a resolution process that may or may not be aided by human service professionals. For the 40 percent that are placed in the Vermont safe homes, most leave within two to eight weeks, either returning to their former home or finding other living arrangements.
The Waldo County participants agreed by the end of their workshop to begin a grant application which would be completed by June 15. If the quest for financial support is a success, they hope to begin development of the Waldo County network in the fall. The Rockland group hopes they can form a sort of partnership with the safe-homes network, as they would both use the services of Home Counselors, Inc., and they'd like to offer them the benefit of their accumulated knowledge, for, as Cleaves pointed out, "We've gone a long way in three years."
The next fundraising project to be undertaken by the Opportunities Alternative students is a raffle, planned for June 8, one that offers such items as a family membership at the Camden Area YMCA, a children's picnic table from Cedarworks and all kinds of gift certificates. The tickets will go on sale the last two weeks of May, and can be purchased in area stores, through CCAP, from advisors to the Homeless Teens Project, or by calling the Opportunities Alternative program at 594-1209.
This house, on South Main Street in Rockland, could provide shelter for up to 30 nights for teens who are experiencing family problems and have no one to help them.
