Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
- Youth Futures, founded by Kristen Mitchell, aids homeless Utah youth with shelters.
- The organization provides comprehensive support, including therapy, education and transitional living.
- Mitchell emphasizes changing public perception and reducing adult homelessness through early intervention.
SALT LAKE CITY — Kristen Mitchell and her team have been supporting Utah's youth for the last 10 years.
With overnight shelter, drop-in services and street outreach, Mitchell says the Youth Futures organization has changed countless lives and helped to lessen the cycle of homelessness at no cost to the kids.
As founder, Mitchell's involvement began one winter night while working on a mental health hotline for youth. During a conversation with a young boy, she found her new calling.
"He was in a park and wouldn't tell me where he was, but he was feeling suicidal, had no place to go and was very distraught," Mitchell recalled. "I talked to him on the phone for hours. … I stayed awake the rest of the night. When my husband woke up, I told him the story and said, 'If someone is going to do us, it's going to be us.'"
Mitchell immediately got to work developing a homeless youth shelter for kids ages 12-18 and transitional living for those 16-22. In 2015, she opened her first shelter in Ogden. Since then, Youth Futures has opened shelters and transitional living centers in St. George and Cedar City. One of the most important guiding principles of the organization was never turning youth away.
Youth Futures is open 24/7 and provides access to laundry, computer access, overnight shelter, support groups, art therapy, pregnancy prevention and a myriad of other courses.
"If you can think about it, we offer it. If we don't offer it, and a kid needs it, we will figure out how to help build it," Mitchell said.
Youth Futures is made possible by grants, fundraisers, donations and the annual Sleep Out event. The event has attendees sleep outside to raise money and ensure that youth will not have to be on the streets. Other sponsors include Havenwood Academy, a girls' trauma treatment facility that consistently donates and brings girls to help with yard work at the facility.
With all the life-changing work that happens within Youth Futures, one of the biggest obstacles has been altering the public's perception of the youth.
"There is a lot of stigma that goes on with homeless kids," Mitchell confessed. "They get marked as runaways or difficult kids. That is really not what these kids are dealing with. These kids are homeless and unaccompanied for reasons that are not their own."
The stories of what led the youth to homelessness have been heartbreaking to Mitchell and only resolved her drive to help in whatever way she can. However, there is light at the end of the tunnel for the organization.
"Statistics show that kids are four times more likely to become homeless adults if they become homeless as a kid. If we can intervene early and help these kids build the life skills and resiliency that they need, they will be more likely to be successful and stay out of homelessness," Mitchell explained.
Over the past 10 years, 80% of the youth served by Youth Futures have not entered the adult homeless system, according to Mitchell. The staggering statistics prove to Mitchell and her army of volunteers and employees that they are making a difference.
With many youth-facing programs constantly being rolled out, Youth Futures sets itself apart by consistently providing positive programs.
"Our motto is 'We serve kids no matter what.' We check our judgment at our door and meet the kids where they are at," Mitchell explained. "We are very youth-centered. When a kid sets their goals, it is their goals, not our suggestions of goals. We will help them down whatever path they choose. We run on positive youth development."
For more information or to volunteer with Youth Futures, visit its website.
