If you are a runaway youth, an aged out foster child, or anyone who is impoverished and in need of a helping hand, there are resources that can help you as you learn to navigate life’s challenges. Below is a compilation of resources available in your state.
Our House
Shelter and 2 year transitional housing program
There is an array of services for the men, women and children that call Our House home. We try to meet every need of theresidents while they focus on achieving self-sufficiency. Most of these services are met by volunteers, partners, donors and interns set on giving residents every chance to succeed in their professional and family lives.
These services include: Basic Needs:
Meal programs
Clothing and supplies
Haircuts
Transportation
Housing referrals and support
Medical and Mental Health referrals Health and Wellness:
One-on-one case management
Group therapy, Support Groups
AA meetings
HIV testing and services
Individual and family mental health therapy 501-374-7383
302 E Roosevelt Road
Little Rock, AR 72206
PO Box 34155 connect@ourhouseshelter.org
www.ourhouseshelter.org
Children’s Emergency Shelter
3015 South 14th St, Fort Smith, AR 72901Phone: 479.783.0018
The vision of the Children’s Shelter is to meet the residential, developmental, andtherapeutic needs of youth who have been placed in foster care due to abuse and/or neglect, and to adapt to the changing needs of youth in foster care. The purpose of the Children’s Shelter is to provide supportive services, in a safe and stable living environment to youth in foster care who exhibit emotional and behavioral disorders due to abuse and/or neglect, and assist them in achieving the ability to successfully transition into a more traditional home environment.
The Fort Smith Children’s Emergency Shelter Independent Living Program, GetREAL24, provides 24 fully-furnished,one-bedroom apartment units for eligible young adults. This living opportunity, along with other GetREAL24 services, will equip foster youth with the life skills needed to successfully transition into adulthood and become self-sufficient, contributing citizens. WHO IS ELIGIBLE?
Arkansas foster youth who are preparing to “age out” OR foster youth 18 and older with a vision and desire to succeed. Services provided:
Housing
Education
Employment
Social and Emotional Well-being
Arkansas Department of Human Services-Division of Children and Family Services
The Transitional Youth Services (TYS) Unit works with teens in foster care ages 14-21 to teach them basic life skills as they transition to adulthood. The program encourages youth to remain in school until graduation from high school and will then assist them with their post-secondary educational needs and training, other programs designed to remove barriers to employment, and/or entry into the workforce.
Training Voucher (ETV) Program offers funds to youth in foster care and former foster youth up to age 26 to enable them to attend colleges, universities, and vocational training institutions. Students may receive up to $5000 a year for four years as they pursue higher education. The funds may be used for tuition, books, or other qualified costs of attendance. These funds are available on a first-come, first-served basis.
Phone: (501) 682 – 2447P.O. Box 1437, Slot S560
Little Rock, AR 72203-1437
https://humanservices.arkansas.gov
Ambassadors for Christ Youth Ministries, Inc.
Pine Bluff, AR(713) 885-4163
http://www.afcyouth.org/ Ambassadors For Christ Youth Ministries, Inc (AFC) was formed in 2006 for the purpose of providing mentorship programs to at-risk, underprivileged, and displaced students through a multifaceted youth development program. AFC has provided an outlet and platform for growth to over 6500 at risk youth with partnerships through schools, churches, and community serving youth programs throughout the Houston, Texas area. We also provide services in Pine Bluff and Little Rock, Arkansas.
Immerse Arkansas
Immerse Arkansas provides a transitional living program. This program involves supporting housing for homeless youth between the ages of 16 and 22, no matter whether they are runaways or have aged out of the foster care system, or have been turned out by their families. These young men and women are connected with a transitional coach who can help them work toward being self-sufficient. The areas they work on are safety, housing, self-care and health, positive social connections, life skills, educational and job development, and money management skills.
Teen Action and Support Center
The Teen Action and Support Center has developed a project called the Teen Thrive NWA. It provides a place for teens with housing insecurity, and other hardships. They will be provided a pathway out of poverty by locating, assessing, and offering continued guidance and care to homeless youth, which can result in higher educational attainment, longer lifetime earning potential, and better health outcomes.
They serve young teenage men and women with physical and referral resources, connections, mentors, and other programs. These can include counseling, family and school mediation, referrals to mental health services, parenting education for teenage parents, and job readiness. The first steps include managing their cases and connecting them with more resources in the community, such as emergency and transitional housing, mental health services, food, job training and assistance, and more.
Youth Bridge
Youth Bridge is a non-profit agency in northern Arkansas. Their services include providing safe havens and individual treatment plans, aftercare, prevention programs, and transitional living.
They have the Journey Program, which provides treatment for substance abuse and other behavioral disorders. It offers comprehensive residential treatment for teenage boys from 14 to 18 years old. They are taken through a twelve-step plan that involves learning new and productive daily living skills.
There is also the Bell Program, which is a group “foster care” program for young ladies in the Department of Children and Family Services system from age 16 to 18 who do not have stable housing. The program is aimed at preparing these young women for adulthood by participating in program goals, education, independent case plans, and therapeutic activities.
Youth Bridge also has the Emergency Shelter Program, which is a year round emergency shelter for at-risk youth from 13 to 18 years old, that can help them achieve both short-term and long-term needs. Basic needs are met, counseling and targeted case management is provided for substance abuse, physical and sexual abuse, mental health issues and behavioral problems. School or continuation placement and transportation are also provided. If these young adults cannot be reconnected with their families, longer-term placement is sought out.
State of Arkansas Homeless Shelters Directory
For those seeking out the help of a shelter, there is a directory created by the Arkansas Department of Human Services, Division of County Operations, Office of Community Services with data received from shelters.