The first class for street counselor training was held at the end of January 2001. Ten volunteers went through the 8 hours of classroom training, and almost all of them completed their 30 hours on-the-streets training. Sixteen months and six orientation classes later, many of the names and faces have changed, but the mission remains the same. A few of the first kids we met are now our biggest advocates on the street. A recent New York Times article recently gave Atlanta the dubious honor of being, the second "meanest" city to the homeless" in America. That hasn't kept kids from inviting friends and getting the word out that STANDUP FOR KIDS and other area groups are working hard to change our city's image.

The basics

We traditionally conduct two outreach sessions every week with between two to ten outreach counselors. It works out either way, since small groups give us the chance to talk to a few kids one-on-one, and bigger groups give the kids the option of just hanging out until they're comfortable and joining in when they're ready.

Many of the homeless kids we meet simply need a sympathetic ear, while others ask us for information about shelters and places to get food. We chat with them, listen to them, and ask them questions to see how they're doing and how we can help them. We're not out there to judge them or force them to do "what's best for them". We offer clothes, food, band-aids and even a shoulder to cry on if needed. Within a few minutes, our new friends will allow us to see what the general public won't or can't; their talents. From art to literature, from Koran scholarship to the implications of John Locke's colonial writing, you'd be surprised at just how much you can learn on a curb in Little Five Points.

About the Kids

Kids are kids. The glaring difference between those from the suburbs and those who go through their trash for a meal is an absence of understanding. Some will say that the latter "fell through the crack." As our founder would say, "When do people start taking action to fix that crack instead of just using it is an acceptable excuse?" The kids on the
streets have dreams. They are passionate, creative and witty. They may not have and address or be a few days in between showers, but they are kids and have the same needs as every under twenty-one year old you know.

The kids can't wait for us to get out there, and both the kids and the counselors would be psyched if we could get out there every day! We conduct outreach Tuesdays and Thursdays, but some kids still call every day just to talk. Even when traveling through California, they call just to share what they've found and invite us to join them. We don't have the volunteers or supplies to staff an outreach team for each day of the week, but we're taking strides to be there soon. Sometimes the outreach food we take to the kids is all they've eaten in days. One of our "regulars" loves applesauce so much she can eat several little containers of it every time we see her. Most of them only have the clothes they're wearing and the same socks they've had on for 3 weeks. Some manage to hang onto a backpack or a blanket for a while, but they either have to lug it around with them wherever they go, or try to hide it somewhere and inevitably have it stolen.

We come bearing food... and soap... and blankets
At every outreach session, we provide food in the form of outreach packs: ziplock bags of non-perishable food such as granola bars and juice cartons. Occasionally we splurge on pizza for a bit of a change, and one evening one of the counselors made PB&J sandwiches for the kids, which they really enjoyed. At outreach we also provide hygiene products and first aid items, which we can often get from MedShare, a non-profit that collects hospital surplus and lets us take what we need for the kids at no charge. Our kids always need band-aids for blisters, feminine hygiene products, and shampoo, soap and deodorant.

Storage Issues

Most of the things we give the kids aren't new or expensive, but they're highly valued by a lot of homeless people, which makes it even harder to hang on to their stuff. Something that would really help out the kids would be finding a place where the kids can store their stuff during the day. This is pretty critical, both for the kids and for the outreach program: if the kids don't have a safe place to keep their belongings, their stuff gets stolen and they constantly experience loss, anger, and frustration. They also end up having the same needs all over again. We'd like to give the kids the opportunity to use the things we give them, get some benefit out of them, and feel as if they own something in the world, however small. Until we locate a storage space, though, the kids don't have much control over the situation. We'll keep handing out supplies to the kids because they desperately need them, but we'd like to come up with a longer-term solution as well.

No Vacancy

All the street kids have needs of one kind or another, but above all, almost all of them have no safe place to stay. There are probably fewer than 100 beds for unaccompanied youth in Atlanta - so what happens to the remaining 3,900 kids? Many of them live in groups, in abandoned condemned houses, or they sometimes sleep under interstate bridges.

We'd like to be able to give them alternatives to this sort of lifestyle, but this involves finding existing emergency shelters that are reliable and safe where we can take the kids, and coming up with transitional housing of some sort. Real estate agents, builders, multi-millionaires: we need your housing space, your renovation skills, and your funding!

The kids usually find somewhere to sleep at night - a park, the church porch, a dumpster - not exactly pleasant or safe, but it's good enough that shelter isn't always their most pressing need. They'll camp out all night and catch a few troubled zzzz's, but they still need a shower, a blanket, clean clothes, a pair of socks with no holes. They need help and money to get ID so they can sleep in a shelter if they find a space, and so they can get a job.

They also need transportation, to get to things like job interviews, shelters, or clinics. We need donations of MARTA cards and tokens, funding to help the kids pay for ID, work clothes... We recently were given a STANDUP FOR KIDS van, but we need you to help supply the donations or your person to help hand them out.

I hope that gives you a better sense of what we've been doing and what we still need to do. Please get involved in any way you can. If you need help, advice, posters, information, or moral support, please contact me at atlanta@standupforkids.org.

Meet our Kids

For every kid you see asking for spare change or your leftovers from dinner, there are several who need even more. Since we began doing outreach, we've all had the opportunity to meet and work with many of the amazing not-for-profits in town. We're always looking for ways to streamline the services offered and help fill in the gaps to make sure those "cracks" are replaced with respect, stability and love.