Covenant House Washington

The Mobile Outreach Support Team (MOST) is often the agency's first line of communication with young people in need of help. The team daily travels to schools, community centers, and neighborhoods across the metropolitan area offering advice, encouragement, and emergency assistance to youth in times of crisis. Often described as the God Squad, MOST team members are on the streets weekdays from 10 a.m. to 1 a.m. letting youth know that CHW is there for them.

The Nancy Dickerson Whitehead Community Service Center provides a welcoming environment in which youth find the support and encouragement they need to resolve difficulties and address challenges. In addition to Administrative Offices, the Community Service Center houses following services:

• Service Management lies at the core of the CHW approach to helping youth reclaim their lives and their dignity. Service Managers act as advocates for youth to ensure that their needs are fully and accurately identified. With youth input, service managers ensure that an individual plan of action is developed with progress measured at regular intervals.
• Education & Workforce Development uses a variety of techniques to address the academic and career needs of youth. Using occupation-specific curricula and criteria, youth master the subjects and skills necessary to enter a profession that interests them. CHW offers various career training sessions and instruction in Adult Basic Education (ABE), General Education Development (GED), and college preparation skills.
• Youth Advocacy helps those who once believed they had no say in their future learn how to stand up for themselves in a positive and constructive manner. Through leadership training, Street Law classes, political forums, and community activities, youth discover their voice and learn how to work with community leaders to effect positive change.
• Many youth served by CHW are parents to two or more children. The lack of affordable day care facilities hinders parenting youth in enhancing their education, finding stable housing and maintaining employment. The Child Development Center provides a safe, nurturing environment for the children of youth served by Covenant House Washington. Infant and toddlers ages 2 - 3 are in a stimulating learning atmosphere while mommy and daddy work toward goals that will help them become better parents.

Residential Services

Responding to the emergency and longer-term housing needs of young people who are homeless or marginally housed, Covenant House Washington has two programs to address the vast needs of youth:

• The Crisis Center provides short-term shelter--up to 90 days--for youth with immediate housing needs. The shelter ensures the physical safety and emotional stability youth need while contending with the pressures of street life.
• The Transitional Living Program (TLP) is an 18 - 24 month supported independent living program that offers a broad range of services and activities that lead young people from dependency and negative lifestyle choices to successful independent living.

Reaching youth early

Teen pregnancy, teen parenting, poor health, and economic issues of young parents are crises within communities served by Covenant House Washington. In response, the agency created it Prevention Services Program, an enrichment program designed to help youth ages 11 - 17 develop good decision-making skills regarding sexual activity and drug use. The program offers two unique components: Peer Supported Pregnancy Prevention Program (PSP³) and Teen Life Choices (TLC). Both enable youth to make value, moral, and information-based decisions through structured after school leadership development and cultural enrichment activities. Each includes an in-school program and a substance prevention program--Youth Against Substance Abuse.

Woodworking equips youth for careers

The Artisans Woodworking Program is a career-training initiative that teaches homeless and at-risk youth the techniques and applied craft of fine woodworking in a hands-on learning environment. Skilled craftsmen work with male and female youth, ages 18 and older, instructing them in the use of traditional hand tools, conventional power tools, and the newest in computer-controlled woodworking machinery. As the goal of the program is to equip youth with marketable skills, knowledge, and experience that will garner meaningful employment, the Artisans created Off the Block, an earned-income program that creates jobs for youth.