Unhoused & Foster Teens & Youth
Known as "The Invisible Crisis," the unsheltered youth population keeps growing. There are 700,00 minors in the US who don't have a permanent home. 2023 Point-In-Time data show that in San Diego County, 324 teens and youth are unsheltered, and 1,687 live in (temporary or emergency) shelters.
After becoming a 501(c)(3) California unincorporated nonprofit association in January 2023, PILT expanded to lend a hand to our unsheltered and foster peers. Pilot programs were successfully launched to at Helix Charter High with the hope of implementing similar projects at our partner schools in the 2023-2024 school year. Since then, PILT partner schools Mission Bay High, San Diego High, and Albert Einstein Academies have supported unhoused teenagers through StandUp For Kids as well as transitional age foster youth and unsheltered youth through the YMCA's Housing Our Youth Coalition and TAY Support Services.
We support unsheltered teens through StandUp for Kids with hygiene / personal care items, first aid products, and non-perishable snacks.
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In 2023, schoolwide drives at Helix Charter High provided 1,315 hygiene items to Terilyn Burg, Executive Director, to be distributed through outreach teams. Along with Helix High, Albert Einstein Academies and San Diego High also donated gently-used teen clothing.
StandUp For Kids - San Diego
In 2023, Helix Charter High School provided YMCA's support specialist Fatima Barbosa Perez with 30 hygiene kits in the spring, and 241 personal care items in the fall for youth in YMCA's emergency housing. The Helix High chapter of the National Honor Society provided 881 diapers to youth parents.
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YMCA's Housing Our Youth Collaborative
We assist foster youth through Sharia's closet. In 2022-2023, Helix Charter High School's Environmental Club donated gently-used clothes for teens and youth to Sharia's Closet - the main source for clothing for Just In Time For Foster Youth.