Today, The National Center on Family Homelessness released the results of its annual study.  It tallied 1.6 million homeless kids in the United States.  1.6 million.  These are homeless families with kids, runaways, children awaiting foster care placement, and kids who have been kicked out of home.  Those numbers are staggering, and they show a nationwide increase of 38% in only three years, up from 1.2-million in 2007.

Their report shows the hard facts: children experiencing homelessness suffer from hunger, poor physical and emotional health, and missed educational opportunities. The majority of these children have limited proficiency in math and reading, and less than 25% of homeless teens will graduate from high school.  They have three times the rate of emotional and behavioral problems, and are more likely to experience developmental and social delays.

In Alaska, 7,300 kids experienced homelessness in 2010 – up by over a thousand from 2009. While we are ranked 28^th in the nation overall, when adjusted for population-size, we drop to 47^th – with #1, Vermont, as best, and only Oregon, Louisiana, and Kentucky faring worse.

The need for a shelter to serve homeless teens in Fairbanks has long been apparent.  Putting hard numbers to this only makes that need more glaring.  Fairbanks Youth Advocates is always seeking community support as we work to bridge this gap – only together can these problems be addressed.