| Project
Safe Place began in Louisville, Kentucky in 1983 as an outreach effort
of the YMCA Center for Youth Alternatives, which is a short-term shelter
for youth at risk. Its success prompted the implementation of Project
Safe Place in over one hundred cities in the United States. |
|
| |
| The
program works by creating a network of “Safe Places”, business
and public locations that display the Safe Place logo on their premises.
Any youth in trouble knows that he or she can enter a location bearing
this sign and request help. An employee at the site will provide
the youth with a secure place to wait while the Northern California
Family Center (NCFC) is contacted. NCFC then dispatches a trained volunteer
to the Safe Place site to offer assistance and provide transportation
to the agency if necessary. |
| |
| Project
Safe Place is not a complex program to implement and the rewards
are tremendous. Cities around the country that have adopted this
program have found that youth are more likely to ask for help when
a Safe Place site is available in their neighborhood. Safe Place
has proven to be a viable option for youth who are contemplating
leaving home and trying to solve their problems alone. |
| |
| Safe
Place allows a youth to access help in
the early stages of crisis, which gives them a much better
chance of affecting a lasting resolution to the problem. |
| |
| In
addition to enhancing outreach programs to area youth, there are many
other benefits that can be realized by starting a Safe Place program. |
| |
| It
can: |
| · Provide
a vehicle for increasing awareness and support for runaway, homeless,
and in-crisis youth in the community. |
| · Establish
the Safe Place logo as a uniform sign in the community that can easily
direct youth to runaway services and shelter programs. |
| · Provide
as opportunity to utilize volunteers who are interested in the plight
of troubled youth. |
| · Create
a network of individuals willing to share information about the program
throughout the community. |
| · Get
direct involvement from businesses and the public sector. |
|
· Increase
exposure in the community, which can enhance fundraising opportunities.
|
| · Provide
a direct means of assisting programs in meeting performance standards
relative to outreach/community relations as set forth in the Federal
Runaway and Homeless Youth Act guidelines. |
