Covenant House Newsroom

When summer arrives, more young people get the courage to leave dangerous situations at home, thinking the streets will be less harsh than the colder winter months.

“Summer is definitely the busiest time in our street outreach work,” says Stephanie Taylor, who has been providing help and hope to young people on the streets of Detroit as a member of our Covenant House street outreach team since March of 1998.

“It is heartbreaking to see how many young people feel the street is their best option during the summer. But it is also an opportunity for us to be out there every night and let these young people know there is hope.”

Stephanie views street outreach as the most direct way to connect young people to services they need but in many cases don’t know exist.

“Street outreach is giving a young person who is alone and hungry a sandwich, but it is so much more than that.  So many kids tell me they were taken advantage of by others because they were promised something to eat.  We go out every night to protect and safeguard all children. We eliminate barriers to basic necessities. And then we begin the work of providing the support young people need to get off the streets for good.”

Building trust with young people is the first step. “By being out every night, and providing basic needs like food and water and clean clothes, we hope we can show kids by our example that we love them and that we can be trusted,” says Stephanie. “That is a big step, because so many of the young people we meet have been hurt and abused and neglected by adults. Every young person needs love and opportunity, and that is what we are bringing to the streets every night.”

Another aspect of street outreach is building relationships, not only with young people on the street, but with other organizations. “Having a van allows us to connect young people with partner organizations providing services we don’t provide,” says Stephanie. “Sometimes our van serves as an ambulance bringing people in need to the hospital or to the doctor. Sometimes we transport families to food banks. And although our mission and focus is serving young people, we also help seniors who may be on the street needing assistance. Our van allows us to help everyone from infants to seniors.”

Stephanie and all our outreach workers are on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week. “You never know when a young person might need help. We get calls alerting us to young people living in abandoned buildings, or a kid sleeping in an abandoned car.  I’ll also get calls from kids who are living at Covenant House, or maybe have moved to their own apartments. We care for every young person holistically, so in my mind once we meet a young person they are a part of my family forever.”

“I recently got a call that I’ll never forget,” shares Stephanie. “It was from a young man who we first met doing street outreach. He would take a snack from us every night, but refused any other kind of help. He had been in foster care his whole life and it was not easy, he had a very tough childhood.

“He finally decided to come back with us one night, and stayed at Covenant House and worked really hard. He now has his own apartment and a job. He called last week to tell me that all he ever really wanted was a family, and that he was grateful to me and to Covenant House for finally being his family. And then he said he was going grocery shopping – and he asked me if I needed anything!  Such a beautiful heart and spirit, I feel so blessed that this job gave me the opportunity to know him.

“We get to be the aunts, the uncles, the guardians that so many of these kids never had,” says Stephanie.  “And then, through their hard work, we get to walk with them on their journeys. I can’t think of a greater calling than that.”