On Monday, the City of Sparks proclaimed November National Homeless Youth Awareness Month.
The Eddy House and other local organizations are facing this issue head-on every single day in our community.
Trevor Macaluso, the Chief Executive Officer for Eddy House, says, "The issue is youth homelessness. At the Eddy House, we exist to create a safe environment for homeless and at-risk youth to develop the life and job skills necessary for sustainable independence."
The increase in homeless youth also puts pressure on organizations like the Eddy House to provide resources for the growing issue.
Macaluso says they also work with other local agencies to help bring down the numbers for youth homelessness.
"We work with RPD and the MOST team and the HOPE team and others to really address the need in our community. We've received a lot of referrals from other partners in the community, and a lot of our programming is actually hosted by experts in the community," said Macaluso.
He also says that the government shutdown is having its impact on homeless youth this year.
"We saw just in the month of September a 70% increase in the number of bed nights as we did over the previous year," he said. "In fact, in the first nine months of this year, we have already served more youth than we did in 2024."
He also says, "As the economy unfortunately gets worse and worse and inflation goes up, the number of homeless youth we're serving in the community is on the rise."
Macaluso says it's really important to address the next generation, saying, "This is the future of our community. If we're able to get them housed daily by 25, they're less likely to become chronically homeless. This is a prevention issue for the issues we have down at the CARES campus. So, empowering the next generation is how we have a healthy community."
During this awareness month, the Eddy House wants the community to stay aware of their events, volunteer, and donation opportunities. You can find the link to all of these by clicking the link here.
