homeless youth

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. – Fifteen local health programs offered by nonprofits and agencies in the South Lake Tahoe area have been awarded grants by the Barton Foundation. A total of $50,000 was distributed among the groups to aid in their efforts to address the community’s most pressing health issues.

During the 2018 Barton Community Health Needs Assessment, the top health issues identified in the South Lake Tahoe community were access to care, mental health, and substance abuse.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - A fire that destroyed a hallway, reading room and teacher's room on Sunday, November 11 was just seconds away from engulfing all of Sierra House Elementary. Had it not been for the quick response by Lake Valley Fire Protection District the discussion would be about replacing the 44-year-old South Lake Tahoe school rather than the processes involved to get it cleaned up and opened in just two days.

In South Lake Tahoe on Saturday, September 16 after Sample the Sierra, a new community event will be held to benefit Tahoe Youth & Family Services.

Local Art After Dark at the Benko Art Gallery will feature live music, live art, dance performances, local food and drinks from 6:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m.

Tickets are $20 at the door and $10 for Sample the Sierra ticket holders and locals (will need to show wristband or local ID at the door. Locals include Tahoe basin and extends to Placerville and Carson/Reno).

The community is invited to an Open House at the new Teen Resource Room at South Tahoe High on Wednesday, November 16 from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. in room C-1 at the school which is located at 1735 Lake Tahoe Blvd in South Lake Tahoe.

Students use the room to get needed clothing including hats and coats, school supplies and food, as well as bicycles. Counseling services are also offered in the room.

Tahoe Youth & Family Services (TYFS) is holding their inaugural Night of Magic on Friday, November 4, 2016 at the Loft at Heavenly Village in South Lake Tahoe from 7:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. This unique fundraiser will start off with wine and appetizers, and attendees will be able to visit with staff to learn more about their programs. Then, starting at 9:00 p.m., the party moves into the intimate theater for a special Magic Fusion show.

Tickets are $60 per person and all proceeds will go to fund needed programs in the community that serve youth and families.

A community group effort led by the Women of the Moose (WOTM) Chapter 408 in South Lake Tahoe is helping the homeless youth of the community

WOTM help out with the kids who are part of the Lake Tahoe Unified School District's McKinney Vento program. LTUSD receives an annual allocation of about $1,000 to purchase school supplies and help with bus transportation for its approximately 250 homeless students.

Dr. James Tarwater, Superintendent of Lake Tahoe Unified Schools, will provide an overview of student data at the next LTUSD School Board meeting on Tuesday, February 9.

Homelessness has many faces. Some are old, some are young. It affects all races, religions, and sexes. It can be triggered by a poor economy, inconsistent work, a medical catastrophe, and death of a family member. In the Lake Tahoe Unified School District (LTUSD), there are 246 homeless students (1).

I recently sat down with one of those students to understand a day in the life of a homeless student.

When children are removed from their homes and put into foster care, it is most likely the worst day of their life. Foster children are kids who have to be taken from their homes due to some sort of safety risk, such as abuse, neglect, parental incarceration, or illegal activity in the household. When a community does not have enough homes to accommodate for foster youth, the children have to move to the closest available foster home, often times being several hours away.

After several years of declining enrollment, Lake Tahoe Unified School District (LTUSD) has seen more students sitting the seats of local schools over the past two years.

The lowest enrollment figures were for the school year 2012-2013. When school ended in June of 2013 there were 3,793 students in South Lake Tahoe's eight schools.

When school started back up in the Fall of 2013 there were 3,855 students enrolled. An additional 26 students started off this school year.

What are the first thoughts that go through your mind when you see a youth on the streets? How did they get there, where are their parents, and are they safe? It’s disturbing to realize that between 1.6 and 2.8 million youth run away annually. Most youth who run away do so because of threatening environments at home, such as physical/verbal abuse, substance abuse issues, questions of sexual orientation, or escaping state care. Unfortunately, by choosing to run away, they further subject themselves to threatening situations that impede their progress in life.

In a quest to make a difference, South Tahoe High School senior Brooke Georguson is collecting jeans that will be donated to homeless youth in the Reno/Tahoe community. On top of that goal, Brooke wants to collect the most jeans in the region so her school will be awarded a $10,000 grant.