Teen Center Youth Worker

This is in the words of a young girl who is a Youth Worker from our Culmore Teen Center.

“I am 14 years old. I attend JEB Stuart High School and I am in the 9th grade. I come from a family of 6 kids, being the second oldest having a brother who's a year older. When I was 7 I lived in Culmore with four of my siblings and my parents. Most days after school all of us would go to the Alternative House Culmore Safe Youth Project (CSYP) after school program, that was just a few minutes from where I lived. It gave us somewhere to go while my parents worked. It was a difficult time both of my parents worked two jobs: one during the day and one during night. When I was in the 4th grade my mom was pregnant with twin baby boys which made it hard for her to work her second job which was delivering newspapers during night. I may have not been the oldest but I was that figure in my family so in the 4th grade my schedule was to go to sleep at 10:00 pm, wake up at 2:00 am deliver newspapers with my parents, come home around 7:00am and then go to school it was a lot of pressure, but the CSYP helped me get away from it all, and to be cared for. When my mom finally gave birth to the twins I was in 5th grade. She left the newborn twins at home for me and my older brother to care for at night while she was working. A few years later we moved out of our one bedroom apartment in Culmore to somewhere a little farther away. About 2 years ago, Alternative House was doing street outreach and they connected with me again. They offered and told me all about the programs available and I joined the Girl World group. I am glad that I was able to connect again, and receive all the support and help that I get from the counselors. A few months ago, I was hired as a youth worker at the Culmore Teen Center. This has given me so much pride and of course it is a great help. It is only for 6 months, but I am learning so much from it! I have many friends that struggle with even worse situations than me; that do not have a safe place to live in and that simply need assistance, and I am so glad that I am able to refer them to the Alternative House. My friends and I still to this day come to all the programs and everything they offer really does mean a lot to us kids, we might not have been born at the top but Alternative House really does help work you there. Thank you for your time.”

For 16 years our Community Based Youth Services have served high-risk and culturally diverse youth in their neighborhoods. Neighborhood-based counselors worked with more than 1,000 young people last year. Our mobile outreach van averages 300 contacts with youth each month providing counseling, referrals and survival supplies in an effort to keep youth in school and away from gang activity.
The Culmore Teen Center served more than 250 youth this past year. The drop-in center provides a safe place away from gang recruitment in one of the most heavily gang-infested areas in Fairfax. Counselors at the center along with community volunteers, provide homework help, tutoring, and recreation and field trips, counseling and community service projects. The center also provides meals for those who need it.

The Safe Youth Project, is an after-school program for 4th, 5th and 6th graders. Our first Safe Youth Project in Culmore was so successful that we were able to open a second program in Annandale. The program provides homework help, tutoring, community service opportunities, computer skills, and recreational opportunities. It was opened after police asked Alternative House if we could work with younger youth. Local gangs have started recruiting children as young as 10. Waiting to provide prevention services beginning in middle school could be too late. The Safe Youth Project has exceeded its enrollment projection of 30 youth at each location and provides neighborhood-based services four days a week.

An Alternative to Homelessness

The first young man who entered our Homeless Youth Initiative has become my “poster child” for telling people about what a difference this program makes in people’s lives.

“John” was 18 and a junior in high school when his father kicked him out of the house. His Dad had a substance abuse problem and often acted erratically. John went from friend to friend, “couch surfing” until he ran out of friends in late August; just before the start of his senior year. A social worker placed him in a small adult homeless shelter.

His very first night there John was propositioned by his roommate. The next morning, he fled the shelter and was sleeping in the bleachers of his high school football stadium because that was where he felt safest.

Alternative House has an emergency shelter for teenagers that provides a safe haven to runaway, homeless and abused young people 13-17-years old, but John was 18. We were able to get a waiver of the rules and brought John in to safety.

Working with the faith community, we located a woman who would rent a room to John. It was close to his high school, his girlfriend and his job, but John couldn’t make enough money to cover the rent and continue to attend school. Through Alternative House’s Homeless Youth Initiative, we were able to pay $325 a month towards his $500 rent. John paid the rest.

John stayed in school and graduated on time. He is working full-time as a car salesman and his employers love him. He’s also going to community college. The small investment this community made in John has resulted in a young man with a future versus a homeless high school drop-out. It also means we have a successful citizen not someone in our shelters or jail. Everyone wins here.

Judith Dittman is executive director of Alternative House, the abused and homeless children’s refuge.

Great News for Homeless Teens!

We just received fantastic news for our Homeless Youth Initiative. Fairfax County is awarding $75,000 to keep the program going. While it won’t cover the full cost, when combined with the Emergency Grant from the Community Foundation of the National Capitol Region, it gets us a long way down the road. Most important, it means the 30 high school students currently in the program that have a safe place to live while they’re in school, won’t be back out on the street. Fairfax County’s Pat Harrison, Dean Klein, Nanette Bowler, Anita Smith and many others were amazing to work with. It is really hard to come up with funding with economic times so difficult for so many. Unfortunately, those difficult times means there are even more young people who need the Homeless Youth Initiative to help them keep a roof over their heads while they’re still in high school. It also means that we are full at our Emergency Shelter for Teenagers and in our Assisting Young Mothers Programs. Our neighborhood outreach staff are also running at capacity with more requests for food, clothing and school supplies than we’ve ever seen. I know, though, that despite the tough times our community won’t let our children and youth down.

Judith Dittman

Learning to communicate

“Liz”, a 13 year old girl from Fairfax County, came to our Emergency Shelter for Teens recently due to conflict with her biological father. As the oldest of three siblings, Liz struggled with effectively communicating with her father, a single parent, about the difficulties of growing up female without a mother figure in her life. Alternative House staff were able to refer Liz for a psychological evaluation where she received an appropriate mental health diagnosis. Liz and her father actively participated in family sessions where they were able to begin exploring how they could improve their relationship and communication. Liz was able to return home to live with her biological father and will begin individual and family counseling soon.

Are you a teen or do you know a teen who needs help? Alternative House provides free confidential counseling and referrals to teens and parents. Call 1-800-SAY-TEEN or 1-800 729-8336.

Targeted Youth Program

Our Targeted Youth Program is designed to help students who have been identified by their school as being at-risk of repeating 9th grade. This summer we worked with one student and her family in particular. The focus was on case management for the family as well as individual and family counseling. The family all obtained library cards and have been attending the free English classes offered at the library twice a week. The student, “Lori”, participated in an online summer school class to help her develop her language skills. She hopes that stronger language skills will help her work towards her goal of an advanced high school diploma. We also helped the family obtain giant bonus cards and are working with Lori to help her learn budgeting skills. We assisted the family with providing immunization information to the school to ensure that Lori will not be held up in the beginning of the school year. We’ve also tried to help Lori’s grandmother with the challenges of raising a child in America, with different opportunities and different cultural attitudes towards child rearing than what she grew up with.

August was a busy month for our teens

Our Emergency Shelter for Teens provided services for 22 residents and their families during the month of August. Residents participated in a variety of outings including going to the DEA museum, a tour of George Mason University campus, a Redskins game, and to the movies. The college tour was conducted by a counselor, who is a current GMU student, and provided the teens an opportunity to explore their educational options and observe the college experience. The residents received information about George Mason that included learning about the admissions process, different degree options, campus life and the tools needed to be successful in college. The Redskins tickets were donated to the game against the Ravens. For most of the residents, this was their first experience attending a professional football game.

Homeless Youth Initiative gets emergency support

Alternative House just got some very good news. The Community Foundation for the National Capital Region awarded our Homeless Youth Initiative an emergency $25,000 grant so we can help kids who are homeless and still in high school find safe shelter. We were going to have to tell 30 young people that they only had 30 days to figure out how to pay their rent and stay in school. Now that won’t happen.
The Homeless Youth Initiative has had some incredible success this past year. In June of 2009 there were 100 young people ages 16 to 20 who were homeless, who didn’t have the support of a parent or guardian and who were trying to finish high school. Numerous students in this situation had to drop out of school and almost 10% ended up in adult homeless shelters. And let me assure you….an adult shelter is no place for a teenager.
At the end of this year we had 200 high school students in Fairfax who were homeless without the support of a family. But because of this program, none were living in an adult shelter and only one dropped out of school. Seventeen are going on to college full time and many others have found full time jobs and are enrolled in NOVA.
About a month ago, I went to a lunch with a handful of other nonprofit executives and we were asked what was keeping us awake at night. I shared my heartache of possibly needing to close a program that had done so much good -- a program that was making a real difference in the future of some of our young people. Instead of dropping out of school, they are going on to college. Instead of being propositioned in an adult homeless shelter, they were living with a family and graduating from school. At that lunch was Terri Lee Freeman, President of the Community Foundation of the National Capital Region. She said they might be able to help. Less than 30 days later, our program and our young people have some breathing room. It’s not safe yet. These dollars will get us through the next several months but we still need longer term support.
The Homeless Youth Initiative addresses in an innovative way a problem that is growing nationwide. With a combination of host homes (like those who house a foreign exchange student), rent vouchers that pay a small amount (about $350 a month) to a family to rent a room to a student and a small group home in Vienna for four young women, we have made a real difference.
It looks like next year there may be federal funding to address this issue. That won’t help the kids who are homeless and trying to finish school this year. We don’t want our youth in an adult homeless shelter with no education, no prospects and no hope. In the end, it helps all of us to have our young people graduate from high school and move on to productive lives. That’s why we will turn over every stone to search for the dollars to help them.

Youth Advisory Council needs members

Alternative House is looking for new members for its Youth Advisory Council. The Youth Advisory Council members are local high school students who help Alternative House extend the reach of its programs and services to the young people in the region. The Council serves as a forum during which members share the challenges and issues they and their peers face and use these experiences as a basis for developing, refining, and effectively applying constructive changes to Alternative House's programs, policies, and procedures. Youth Advisory Council members are expected to attend council meetings which are held from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., on the first Wednesday of every month from September through June, at the Emergency Shelter for Teenagers and to actively participate in the Council's community service activities, fundraisers, and special events. Please visit our website for more details and for the Youth Advisory Council application.

Making a Difference by Christine Bartell

Hi I am Christine Bartell and I just joined Alternative House as the new Office Manager and Volunteer Coordinator. I recently left a career in the IT industry after 15 years and decided I that I wanted to change paths after being in the fast pace corporate world. After much thought and a leap of faith, I decided I wanted to contribute my time to something that could help make a difference in a life, however I never thought at the same time it would change mine.
I have never seen such dedication and drive from a group of people to help make an organization run so smoothly. To see the passion that each staff member and volunteer have is beyond amazing in itself and I commend each and every one for what they do. I am excited being here and whether it is stuffing envelopes, sweeping the floors or making someone smile; I look forward to helping here at AH. I believe that we do not always know how we will touch another person’s life however one thing is for sure, I am able to go home and sleep better knowing I made a contribution in one way or another and that these young people will have a better chance in the world doing the same. Isn’t that what life it is really suppose to be about anyway?
We could really use your time and I personally encourage you to come and be a part of Alternative House in one way or another. Whether it is volunteering long term or short term, you can make a difference. I am having the next Volunteer Orientation on August 25th from 6-7pm and would love to meet you and please call me if you want to know more sooner. I can be reached at 703-506-9191.

1-800-SAY-TEEN

‎1-800-SAY-TEEN This crisis intervention, counseling and referral service is staffed by trained counselors 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. The Hotline is an immediate resource for youth and parents who need assistance, whether it's a counseling referral or help with parenting resources.

Mr. Gonzales Has the Right Formula for Volunteering

By Susan Blalock

Alternative House is proud to announce that Jose Gonzales who is a volunteer at our Culmore Teen Center was nominated and won a volunteer award. He was awarded the Norbert Grabowski Founder’s Award by the Optimists Club of Central Fairfax on Tuesday, June 23, 2010.

Mr. Gonzales first began to come to Alternative House’s drop-in Teen Center in Falls Church to pick up his daughter who was employed as one of our Youth Workers. While waiting for his daughter to complete her work, he noticed that many of the teens in the program were working on homework and that some were really struggling with their math assignments. He took it upon himself to speak with the staff to see if the teens could use a tutor for their work. It has been very difficult for us to get tutors, especially in math, for this program and the staff were so happy that Mr. Gonzales was willing to help out. He has now been coming to the Teen Center on a weekly basis to help teens with their Algebra and Geometry work for about seven months. During this time, Mr. Gonzales’ relationship with the teens has changed from being just a tutor to also being a mentor and a role model. As the teens learned more about him, they really came to respect and look up to him. Mr. Gonzales immigrated to the United States from Peru when he was young and struggled to learn English, assimilate into the American culture, and despite his own personal economic struggles he continued to pursue his education. Many of the youth at the Teen Center struggle with these same issues and Mr. Gonzales has been a source of hope and inspiration for them. In addition to making a difference for these young people academically and on a personal level, Mr. Gonzales serves as a positive role model to the teens by giving back to his community. As a construction worker Mr. Gonzales has the opportunity to work additional hours to support his family, but he has made sure to leave his schedule open on Wednesday afternoons so that he can work with the teens. A perfect example of the respect that the teens have for Mr. Gonzales occurred about a week ago, Mr. Gonzales arrived at the Teen Center to work with one particular teen and the young man did not have his school materials. He said that he had forgotten about tutoring and would run home to get his books. As soon as the teen left, the staff thought that he would not return and that he had used forgetting his books as an excuse to get out of tutoring. A few minutes later, the teen returned to the Teen Center with all of his school materials and worked with Mr. Gonzales for a couple of hours. Many of the teens have seen that working with Mr. Gonzales helps them with their school work and jump at the chance to get math help from him. For many of these teens, there is no one at home who can help them with their school work so working with Mr. Gonzales prevents them from getting frustrated and lost in their school work which has helped some teens bring up their grades. Not only has Mr. Gonzales inspired some of the teens to do better and given them the tools they need to succeed, but he has also helped youth stay in school. The youth that the Teen Center serves all come from low-income families that struggle financially even during good economic times. Some of these teens have been put in a position where their families want them to leave school in order to get jobs to financially help support the family. Mr. Gonzales has worked with a couple of these teens to help them find a good compromise that will allow them to stay in school and work outside of school to help the finances of their family.

Congratulations Mr. Gonzales and thank you for all of your hard work to help the youth in our program.

We Rocked the House by Gina Cocomello

On June 13 Alternative House hosted our 14th Annual Rock the House 8K Race. We have been working for months to get ready for this event. On race morning the weather was hot and muggy but no thunderstorms. The morning starts early I arrived before 6:00am bringing in supplies and setting up registration. Soon volunteers started arriving. We needed to get ready for the runners. Over 50 volunteers turned out to support this event. Volunteers registered the runners, handed out T-shirts and bibs. They were stationed on the route as course marshals to cheer the runners on and to serve water. Two volunteers were out on bikes riding the route to help organize the volunteers and watch for the runners. We wanted everyone in place before the race started. Almost 300 runners registered for the race. The runners were getting ready, stretching, doing short sprints, and pinning on their bibs. There was a group stretch and warm up. The DJ was playing Bruce Springsteen songs right before the start. The runners were lining up. We even had a few runners with jogging strollers lined up in the back of the pack. Then they were off. While they were gone we got ready for their return opening cases of bottled water and sports drinks, cutting up fruit and organizing the prizes. It didn’t seem like very long before the first runners were crossing the finish line. One or two at first then more and more, as they crossed the finish line there was lots of cheering, finally the last runner, more stretching and lots of water. Prizes were awarded for best in category and even random prizes so everyone had a chance to win something.

The Rock the House 8K Race is our largest fundraising event of the year. We couldn’t do it without the support from our sponsors, Board, volunteers, staff and runners. I personally want to thank everyone involved in this event. The proceeds from this race go to support our programs and services for homeless and at-risk youth and teens. Thank you.